TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — The Temple vape shop Jack of Smoke on West Adams Avenue was robbed at gunpoint by 18-year-old Lawrence Jones last week — Jones ran from the scene before eventually being arrested and charged with aggravated robbery.
Michael Nielsen, the employee working at the smoke shop during the robbery, recounted the moments to 25 News about his life being at risk.
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"Well, my first thought was 'This gun is fake' — it looked like a little toy gun, a little BB gun type thing, until he racked it and I heard the sound," Nielsen said.
"When he racked it in front of me, I was 'Okay' — I asked the kid straight up, 'You’re going to throw your life away for a vape?'."
Having worked in the smoke shop industry for over a decade, Nielsen identified several factors contributing to such incidents.
"You've got a lot of companies sending their products overseas to get mass-produced — how much regulation is there?" Nielsen said.
He emphasized that the availability of disposable vapes is a significant issue.
"These disposables are the issue at hand — I mean, these kids can get ahold of them fairly easily, and it comes down to what are the shops doing."
For Nielsen, addressing vaping addiction starts at home, with legislation doing little to deter crime.
"It comes back to the parents — where are the parents during this whole thing? How much interaction are you having?", he said.
"The reason why the kid did what he did was because I asked for his ID — he didn’t have it, I put it up, and then, he did what he did. I did my job."
The Temple Police Department provided 2024 crime statistics for context about similar crimes — the City of Temple reported 8 aggravated robberies in 2024, none of which were related to smoke/vape shops.
Belton Police Chief Larry Berg also offered this insight about smoke shop-related crimes in his jurisdiction —
"There has been no noticeable trend in Belton of criminal elements targeting the eight smoke or vape shops in the city," Berg said.
"However, I do encourage the public that if you see something suspicious to not hesitate to contact your local police department so that they can check out any concerns."
