Arrested: Man with gun demands $20s at Beaufort-area small business, cops say
Police arrested a 31-year-old Burton man for allegedly displaying a gun to the cashier at a small business and demanding money Thursday afternoon.
Kenneth Mikel Fields Jr. was charged Thursday with armed robbery after he was located by police and confessed to the crime, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Over a dozen officers responded around 4:15 p.m. Thursday to Los Hermanos, a Mexican goods store located at 659 Robert Smalls Parkway.
The cashier told deputies a man, later identified through security footage as Fields, had approached her and placed a gun on the counter, saying “he wanted $20 bills or he would shoot,” according to a BCSO incident report.
After the cashier told Fields another customer was behind him, the report says, the alleged robber “fled from the store” without taking anything. Surveillance footage showed him getting on a bike and turning south onto S.C. 170. He was apprehended by police shortly after.
Judicial records indicate Fields appeared for a bond hearing at 9 a.m. Friday, although it was unclear if he had been released from the Beaufort County jail.
Fields’ arrest is one of dozens across Beaufort County that have not been publicly viewable for the past 3 weeks via the detention center’s online inmate inquiry system. The county-run website stopped updating with new inmate data June 17 due to technical difficulties stemming from updates to law enforcement’s records management software.
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 2:56 PM.
