The Utica man accused of using a handgun to rob an Ameristar Casino teller and assault a patron while carjacking his vehicle Monday was arrested with two others Tuesday afternoon after being tracked by officials to one of the men’s home near Utica.

Thomas McGriggs, 21, 18012 Old Port Gibson Road, was arrested around noon by Vicksburg Police and Hinds County Sheriff’s deputies on charges of armed robbery, aggravated assault and carjacking. The arrest was made at 2824 Charlie Brown Road, where the three men were found hiding in a car, said Capt. Mark Culbertson.

The other two men were interviewed and released Tuesday night without being charged, said Culbertson, who did not release their names. McGriggs had been driven to the casino Monday by the mother and aunt of one of the men, Culbertson said.

McGriggs was in the Warren County Jail this morning on $250,000 bond. A hold was also in place from District Attorney Gil Martin because McGriggs was out on $20,000 bond on a charge of felony eluding and malicious mischief for destroying property at Sports Center on Pemberton Square Boulevard before leading police on a chase in December.

Surveillance tapes show a man identified as McGriggs walk up to a money counter in the casino at 4116 Washington St. at 6:06 p.m. Monday, pull a handgun from his jacket and order the teller to put cash into a white bag. After leaving the casino, he assaulted a Flowood man in the parking lot with the gun, forced the man and his wife out of their 2002 Ford Explorer and drove away, Culbertson said.

The Flowood man was treated and released from River Region Medical Center for a blow to the head, Culbertson said, and will be consulting with a surgeon to determine if injuries to his wrist will require surgery. The shaken teller was also treated and released.

The Explorer was recovered around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in woods near the home where the arrest was made, Culbertson said. It is being held at the city vehicle shop, where the Flowood couple was expected to pick it up today.

McGriggs &#8220was probably going to go back and get it and strip it,” Culbertson said. There was no apparent damage to the vehicle.

Ameristar officials have not determined the amount of money taken, said casino spokesman Traci Hayes. About $165 was recovered from McGriggs and a few small bills were found in the Explorer, but most of the stolen money is still missing, Culbertson said.

McGriggs apparently bought a car following the robbery, Culbertson said, a 1995 Chevrolet Caprice registered to a nearby resident, though it was uncertain whether stolen money was used in the deal. The car’s seller, who lives on Ernie Martin Road in Utica, is wanted for questioning but is not suspected in the robbery, Culbertson said. The Caprice is in police custody at the city impound.

Police identified McGriggs through a disconnected cell phone, which the suspect pretended to speak on before and during the robbery and dropped, along with a bag of cash, during his escape. Police used phone records and pictures from surveillance cameras to name McGriggs as the primary suspect.

&#8220He didn’t think he could be identified” from camera shots, Culbertson said. &#8220We got subscription information from people he’d called on his cell phone and went and talked to them, and they helped identify him.”

Interviews in McGriggs’ neighborhood in Utica led officials to the house on Charlie Brown Road, he said.

The robbery was the third at a Vicksburg casino since the first casino opened on the Mississippi River in 1993. The last robbery was in November 2003, when a masked gunman claiming a bomb was in the Horizon Casino got away from the boat with an undisclosed amount of cash. There are no suspects in that case, Culbertson said.