UPDATED 6:15 a.m. Friday with charges and mugshot.

Original story posted at 10 a.m. Wednesday

ST. LOUIS -- The ax-wielding robber didn't count on Policeman Luther Tyus being just around the corner.

Tyus had stopped a car on routine morning patrol Wednesday on Lindenwood Avenue, just steps from Kingshighway in south St. Louis.

About 8:55 a.m., someone ran up to Tyus and told him that a man with an ax was robbing the Jack in the Box a few doors away, at 4201 South Kingshighway.

Tyus walked into the busy restaurant with his gun drawn. He saw the robber carrying an ax that was bigger than a hatchet.

"Everyone in the restaurant was pointing at him, and a couple people were screaming," Tyus told the Post-Dispatch. "He sees me and he puts it down on the counter."

But Tyus didn't let his guard down just yet. The robber was about 15 feet away, and Tyus learned at the police academy how that amount of space can provide little protection from someone with a knife or ax.

"I didn't want to get too close because it was still within reach, and someone with a knife or an ax can close 21 feet within two seconds, that's what we were taught," Tyus said.

Tyus ordered the man onto his knees. He complied.

The robber, 33, was arrested without incident.

On Thursday, prosecutors charged Terry L. Madlock Jr., a homeless man, with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. Bond was set at $150,000.

No one was hurt at the restaurant. About 15 workers and customers were in the store, said Lt. Daryle Noble of the city's 2nd police precinct.

"They were quite shaken," Noble said.

The store manager declined comment.

Noble said Tyus "went in and interrupted the robbery in progress. He was able to take custody of him without anyone getting hurt. The guy (robber) was pretty compliant.

"Officer Tyus did an outstanding job," Noble said.

Tyus has been an officer about 18 months, Noble added. He graduated from the academy in March 2009.