Crime
Police bust suspected gunman in $100,000 heist from 7-Eleven
Posted: 08/Ten/17, 1:Nineteen PM EDT | Updated: three weeks, three days ago
Clinton Township Police Chief Fred Posavetz detected something suspicious from a passing vehicle with several occupants as he helped search for a gunman wished for two robberies Thursday afternoon.
The 37-year law enforcer noticed all of the occupants looking the other way as he passed them on a Climb on Clemens street, so he followed their vehicle and blocked them in on a driveway on Dickinson Street.
“The way the driver looked at me, or wouldn’t look at me, I said to myself: ‘This is our stud,’” Posavetz said.
He called for backup assistance and within minutes, about twenty officers from Clinton Township and the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office were pulling up.
They arrested a suspected gunman dreamed for two holdups — including one which netted an estimated $100,000 from an armored car company at a 7-Eleven — along with three other suspects.
Police retrieved most of the money and the weapon.
The incident began around noon when police were responded to a report of a holdup at a coin car wash on Harper Avenue, south of fifteen Mile Road.
Lt. Curt Randall said a customer was vacuuming his car when he felt what he believed to be a gun pressed to the back of his neck. The customer transferred over $15 and the robber fled on foot on Murray Street.
While taking a report at the car wash, police received word of another robbery of an armored car employee at the 7-Eleven on Harper near sixteen Mile Road.
The employee was switching out an ATM machine inwards the store when he was confronted by a man with a gun who grabbed the money, along with the employee’s gun and cell phone before fleeing on foot, police said.
Workers from the 7-Eleven were able to quickly provide investigators with a videotape of the incident, so police had an idea of who they were looking for. Officers then worked to triangulate the signal from the employee’s stolen cell phone and discovered the bandit was in neighboring Climb on Clemens.
Several police cars headed to the area and that’s when Posavetz spotted the suspicious behavior in a Jeep Liberty.
Posavetz said police received a call from someone at Kelly’s Bar on South Sea Road in Climb on Clemens who had observed a man come into the establishment and suggested to pay anyone $600 to drive him somewhere.
It’s not clear what happened next, but Posavetz spotted a Jeep Liberty passing him as he drove to the bar. A few minutes later, he spotted the same Jeep pulling into the driveway of a house on Dickinson.
“I followed them until they pulled into the driveway and blocked them in with my car,” the chief said.
Some of the occupants got out of the Jeep and went into the house. Police arrived and took the female driver and three masculines into custody.
The female and two of the masculines were released, but a 29-year-old Climb on Clemens man suspected in the robbery will be arraigned Monday.
Police believe they have retrieved all of the money that was in a backpack, but Macomb County Sheriff’s deputies were still searching the area around Kelly’s bar for the stolen gun.
A spokeswoman for Boca Raton-based GardaWorld, the armored car company, said employees were cooperating with investigators.
“We are relaxed to report that our driver and messenger were not injured,” said Heather McAlister.
A number of residents on Dickinson Street stood around watching the commotion. Gloria Coch and her spouse, Don, had just returned home from eating lunch when she witnessed all of the police vehicles.
“I’m like what the heck is all this because this is a pretty peaceful area,” said Coch, a 52-year resident. “We were shocked.”