Niles Man Robs 7-Eleven With Fake Gun, Resists Arrest: Police

NILES, IL — A Niles man is accused of brandishing a fake gun at a convenience store clerk and taking cash before resisting arrest, causing a minor injury to one of the officers while being taken into custody.

Nicholas Amato, 26, of the 7700 block of North Oconto Avenue, walked into the 7-Eleven at 7450 W. Oakton Street in Niles with a bag over his face around 8:30 p.m. Thursday in a video-recorded robbery, authorities said.

Amato pulled out what was later determined to be an airsoft gun and stole $40 from a clerk there, according to police and prosecutors. According to Amato's attorney, the incident was triggered by a change in his psychiatric medication.

At Amato's initial court appearance Friday in Skokie, the judge was told that the Cook County State's Attorney's Office has charged Amato with misdemeanor theft and two counts of resisting arrest — one a felony and the other a misdemeanor — rather than aggravated robbery.

Officers dispatched to the call of an apparent armed robbery found Amato, who matched the description of the robber, in the 7800 block of North Odell Avenue, police and prosecutors said.

Assistant State's Attorney Rowland Edwards said Amato did not follow the officers' demands to show them his hands.

"[Amato] began approaching officers and continued to refuse to take his hands out of his pockets," Edwards said Friday at Amato's initial court appearance. "[Amato] kept reaching toward his waistband as he approached officers."

The officers took Amato to the ground, with one of them suffering a minor injury to his knee and hand in the process, according to the prosecutor.

Edwards said Amato admitted bringing the replica handgun into the store and the clerk confirmed that he was the man who had brandished it in the store.

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Defense attorney Paul Burnson said Amato worked at a sporting goods store, where he was recently promoted, and is a few credits away from completing an associate's degree at Oakton Community College.

Burnson said his client has dealt with substance abuse and behavioral health issues for years but had been doing well since being sentenced to probation last year.

That sentence followed a guilty plea to a reduced charge of misdemeanor battery after Amato was initially charged with aggravated battery in the public way, according to Edwards. The prosecutor said he filed a motion with the clerk's office asking the judge to find that Amato had violated the terms of his probation, but Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese said he did not receive it.

Asking for a bond within Amato's family's ability to pay, Burnson, the defense attorney, said his parents hopes to send him to an inpatient treatment facility.

"He was not in his right mind, certainly," Burnson said.

Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese set the cash portion of Amato's bond at $1,000 and ordered him to stay out of the 7-Eleven while awaiting trial.

"He appears to be doing well when, apparently, he's taking his medication and he's in better shape than he has been in recent vintage in the past few days," Calabrese said. "And he has the support of his family, which is a significant factor in anybody turning things around."

7-Eleven representatives declined to press charges against Amato, according to Niles police.

Amato is due back in court for a preliminary hearing March 24.