SOUTH POINT — An Ironton area man is behind bars, charged with holding up a gasoline station with a long barrel shotgun earlier this month.

Walter T. Ballard, 21, of 477 Township Road 119, Ironton, is charged with one count of aggravated robbery.

On Jan. 11, a cashier at Clarks Pump ‘N’ Shop on County Road 450, next to the Grandview Inn, told sheriff’s deputies a man wearing a mask and gloves and carrying a .12 gague shotgun walked into the store just before 4 a.m. and demanded money, cigarettes and the cashier’s identification.

The suspect threatened to hurt the cashier’s family but he dropped the gun when he ran out of the store.

Lawrence County Sheriff’s Detective Aaron Bollinger said during the investigation, authorities learned Ballard had gone into the store a short time before he robbed it but was dressed differently.

He allegedly later donned the mask and gloves and a different jacket and went back to the store to rob it. Bollinger said authorities recovered shoes and other items allegedly used in the robbery.