Rochester Man Pleads Guilty in 7-Eleven Armed Robbery

A 21-year-old Rochester man has admitted his role in a violent armed robbery at a 7-Eleven store and possession of a firearm stolen in a burglary that later turned deadly. Joseph Lowry pleaded guilty Thursday to Hobbs Act robbery and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, stemming from the August 10, 2015, stickup at the 1469 Lake Avenue convenience store.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas E. Gregory, Lowry and co-defendant Johnny Blackshell entered the store with a plan to steal cash and goods. Lowry vaulted over the service counter, forced employees to the ground, while Blackshell brandished a silver handgun, pressed it to a victim’s head, and demanded the cash register be opened. The register held approximately $80 in U.S. currency—money Lowry grabbed before both men fled east on Lake Avenue, clutching cigarettes, chewing gum, tobacco, and a stash of scratch-off lottery tickets.

The stolen lottery tickets were later redeemed across Rochester until the New York Lottery blacklisted them. The theft wasn’t just a cash grab—it tied into a larger web of violence. Just days earlier, on August 1, 2015, Rochester police found a loaded 12-gauge shotgun on the porch of Lowry’s home at 33 Phelps Avenue. Ballistics tracing confirmed it was one of three weapons stolen during a July 29 burglary at 1070 Lake Avenue, where intruders hauled off a gun safe.

That same burglary yielded an AK-47 rifle later used in the August 19, 2015, shooting at the Rochester Boys and Girls Club—one of the city’s most notorious crimes in recent memory. Johnny Blackshell was convicted in June 2016 on three counts of First Degree Murder in New York State court for that massacre. The shotgun in Lowry’s possession? Also from the stolen cache. He pleaded guilty to possessing that stolen firearm.

Lowry now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Federal charges of Hobbs Act robbery and carrying and brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence remain pending against Blackshell. As of now, Blackshell is presumed innocent on those federal counts, prosecutors stress—though his state convictions speak loudly.

The takedown was the result of joint work by the Rochester Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Sentencing for Joseph Lowry is set for March 9, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa.

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