A Bucks County man with a lengthy criminal record is now charged with robbing a Philadelphia cellphone store before he allegedly threatened a driver with a gun and was then shot by a police officer in Bensalem.
“This individual terrorized a clerk at a cellphone store and then terrorized two individuals just randomly driving on a Saturday evening in the summer, putting all of them in fear for their life,” Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn said during a press conference on Thursday, Aug. 14.
On Aug. 2, 2025, shortly before 5 p.m., John Mathis, 44, of Levittown, Pennsylvania, entered a Metro by T-Mobile store on the 7200 block of Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia, police said. Mathis was armed with a handgun as he robbed $1,000 from the store and fled the scene on a black Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle, according to investigators. Mathis rode the motorcycle northbound into Bucks County, police said.
About an hour later, Mathis rode his motorcycle next to a driver and his passenger on Bristol Pike near the Wawa in Bensalem Township, pulled out a gun and pointed it at them, according to the criminal complaint.
“You’re lucky I don’t rob you,” Mathis allegedly told the driver.
When the man tried to drive away, Mathis followed him while on his motorcycle and with the gun still in his hand, prompting the driver to call 911, investigators said.
A Bensalem Township police officer then arrived and drove his patrol vehicle between the victim’s car and Mathis’ motorcycle, officials said. Mathis then allegedly rode his motorcycle into the officer’s patrol car, fell off his vehicle and then fled on foot towards oncoming traffic, according to the criminal complaint.
The officer exited his patrol vehicle and chased after Mathis, telling him multiple times to show his hands, according to the criminal complaint. Mathis allegedly refused to comply and continued to run with a cellphone in his left hand and the handgun in his right hand. Investigators also said Mathis had an overhand grip on the gun, causing the muzzle of the weapon to point down and toward the pursuing officer as he ran.
The officer then pulled out his own weapon and fired three times towards Mathis, striking him at least once. The officer then took Mathis to Jefferson Torresdale Hospital in Philadelphia where he was treated for his injuries.
Investigators determined Mathis had no registration for his motorcycle and his license was suspended after he was previously convicted of driving on a DUI-suspended license three times. They also found a small flat head screwdriver which they believe was used to start the motorcycle since no keys were located.
Police also recovered Mathis’ black 9mm pistol which they determined was not registered to him. Investigators said Mathis is prohibited from legally possessing firearms due to a history of felony convictions.
Mathis was later released from the hospital and arraigned on charges related to a separate road rage incident in Bristol Township on July 27, 2025. Police said Mathis had an active arrest warrant in connection to that incident.
“Just five days prior to [the Aug. 2] event, which as mentioned was completely unprovoked, we know that this same defendant has allegations that pertain to getting into a road rage incident with another driver, forcing that driver off the road after engaging in an aggressive maneuver causing a collision, getting out of his vehicle and then smashing through the windshield of that victim’s car with a baseball bat,” Schorn said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Aug. 13, Bucks County officials filed additional charges against Mathis in connection to the Philadelphia cellphone store robbery. Mathis is charged with robbery, theft by unlawful taking, prohibited possession of a firearm, firearms not to be carried without a license, receiving stolen property, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon, possession of an instrument of crime, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.
Schorn said on Thursday that her office had tried to hold Mathis in jail on his previous charges prior to the robbery and road rage incident on Aug. 2, but he was released and placed on electronic monitoring due to lowered bail.
“He was in fact awaiting prosecution for an aggravated assault while DUI,” Schorn said. “Not only that, he had two open state parole violation matters and he additionally had two sentencing matters for felonies. One involving the burglary of a cellphone store.”
According to the criminal complaint, after the incidents on Aug. 2, Mathis’ probation officer told investigators the two had met once a week in person for the past four months before Mathis absconded and cut off his monitor.
“How would people feel when they stop at an intersection and a gun gets pointed at them and their wife’s heads? That’s the lens people have to look at when they’re releasing people like this,” Bensalem Police Director of Public Safety William McVey said on Thursday. “How would they feel when an officer goes up to a car stop, has no idea he just committed an armed robbery in the community just over the border? Officers don’t know what their facing each and every single day and they’re out there trying to protect everyone. But when they arrest some of these people and then they’re back out within a week, two weeks, the same day, that makes no sense to me as a police officer.”
Mathis was remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility with bail set at $1 million, 10%. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 19, 2025. While Mathis is now in custody, police said they’re still investigating his actions and want to know if anyone else interacted with him on Aug. 2, 2025.
NBC10 reached out to attorneys who represented Mathis in the past. We have not yet heard back from them.