A Fairhope man unsuccessfully tried to rob a Gulf Shores Arby and two of its customers with a BB gun Sunday, according to Gulf Shores police.

Officers responded to the restaurant on Gulf Shores Parkway just after 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Witnesses told police a man had entered the restaurant, pointed a pistol at an employee, demanding cash and money. The clerk, however, ran to the rear of the store to tell her manager what was happening.

Failing to rob the business, the suspect fled the store, but once outside he attempted to rob two Arby’s customers. They, too, refused to comply with his demands and the suspect ultimately fled the scene on foot and empty-handed.

Minutes later, the suspect — identified as 23-year-old Preston Hope Northan — was taken into custody. He has been charged with two counts of 1st-degree robbery.

Northan discarded the weapon he brandished at the restaurant, but it was located during a search of the area by a K9 unit. The weapon was BB gun which resembles a semi-automatic handgun, police said.

According to court records, Northan was charged in 2021 with robbery, burglary, assault and reckless endangerment in Baldwin County. He ultimately entered a guilty plea to the burglary charge in a plea deal with prosecutors.

Northan was sentenced to 20 years in state prison, with 15 years suspended. Information on when he was released from prison wasn’t immediately available.