Brentwood Man Pleads Guilty to Moon Township Bank Robbery

A Brentwood man pleaded guilty today in federal court in connection to a 2011 robbery at Giant Eagle in Moon Township. 

Christopher Lyons, 32, admitted to robbing to the Citizens Bank location in the supermarket of an undisclosed amount of cash on Nov. 6, 2011. 

He is scheduled to face a sentencing on March 25 in U.S. District Court. 

During the robbery, Lyons passed a note to a bank teller that read "This is a robbery ... I have a gun," according to court documents. 

The teller handed the man a stack of cash that contained an exploding dye pack. Lyons fled with the cash, which exploded in the store's Moon Plaza parking lot before he drove away in a Cadillac Escalade, according to court documents.  

Using surveillance footage, investigators tracked Lyons back to his home on Beisner Avenue in Brentwood. 

The South Hills Council of Governments' Critical Incident Response Team, which includes several Moon Police officers, entered his home. When officers found Lyons, they said he was wielding a gun and knife and had slit his own throat.

Police said Lyons refused to put the weapons down and barricaded himself in the home. Officers lobbed tear gas into the house and negotiated with Lyons until about 11 p.m., when he surrendered.

Lyons was taken to UPMC Mercy Hospital by ambulance and underwent surgery for his self-inflicted neck wounds.