By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A Shelby County grand jury is set to decide if it will indict a 60-year-old Leighton man on a pair of felonies tied to an April 2 armed robbery in Pelham after the suspect’s charges were bound over on April 30.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sent first-degree robbery and illegal possession of a firearm charges to a grand jury, which will review evidence in the case and determine if it will uphold the charges against William Charlise Campbell.

The Pelham Police Department arrested Campbell, who lists an address on McCormack Lane in Leighton, on April 2 and charged him with the two felonies.

At about 3:54 p.m. on April 2, the Pelham Police Department was advised of a robbery in progress at 1st Franklin Financial located at 2631 Pelham Parkway in the Pelham Promenade shopping center.

The suspect, who turned out to be Campbell, was described as a white male wearing a gray hoodie jacket and gloves armed with a handgun.

Police said the suspect tried smashing through the glass window in the business lobby without success. The suspect then fled the scene on foot behind the business.

A Pelham police officer was in the immediate area when the robbery call was dispatched. The officer contacted the suspect at the rear of the Pelham Promenade shopping center and took him into custody after back up units arrived.

The handgun was recovered at the scene.

As of April 30, Campbell was being held in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $75,000, and had remained incarcerated since his April 2 arrest.

First-degree robbery is a Class A felony, and is punishable by up to life in prison upon conviction.