Posted 5/3/24

It was a stressful day at a Bonnertown store Wednesday after an armed man asked a teenage store clerk to marry him. When she turned him down, he allegedly made serious threats.

The 911 call came from frightened clerks at the Bonnertown Store Wednesday near the Alabama state line in the southern part of Lawrence County.

Members of the Loretto Police Department were first on the scene and took Dustin Brian Burgett into custody without incident.

According to Authorities the suspect came into the store Tuesday, April 30th and bought some items. Then, Burgett reportedly returned early Wednesday morning and asked the 19-year-old store clerk to marry him, she declined.

While the young clerk and her female coworker were sitting outside, Burgett made a second attempt at the proposal, and again was rejected.

That’s when he pulls a knife from the front of his overalls and makes a statement to the store clerks that if he doesn’t get married today by somebody, somebody’s going to die.

Once deputies secured the scene, they found more than $3,600 in cash and a loaded shotgun in the suspect’s truck. They also discovered wedding rings in a small box and a bouquet of red roses.

In the end, Burgett was charged with two counts of aggravated assault. He posted his bond of $40,000, but he was ordered to have no contact with the store or the two store clerks or risk being arrested immediately.