Teen Pulled Gun During Shoe Deal Set Up On Social Media, Police Say

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — Police arrested a 19-year-old East Hartford man Thursday in connection with an armed robbery that investigators say was set up through social media and carried out in the parking lot of a South Windsor shopping center.

According to an email from the South Windsor Police Department, Charles N. Woodall was taken into custody at about 10 a.m. Jan. 29 on an active arrest warrant tied to a December 2025 incident at the Target store parking lot at 125 Buckland Hills Drive.

Police said the incident involved a prearranged item exchange coordinated online. During the encounter, investigators allege Woodall pointed a firearm at the victim, taking both the victim’s merchandise — a pair of shoes — and cash.

Woodall was charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, robbery in the first degree, criminal use of a weapon, and three counts of reckless endangerment in the first degree.

Police said Woodall was already in custody at the time of his arrest due to an unrelated case from another jurisdiction. He was processed through Manchester Superior Court, where he was held on a $250,000 court-set bond and appeared before a judge Thursday, Jan. 29.