Detectives arrest suspects in Sacramento strong-arm robbery; ghost gun found in backpack
Detectives arrested two suspects, including a teen reportedly found with a loaded ghost gun at his Elk Grove school, who are accused of committing a strong-arm robbery earlier this month in south Sacramento.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office detectives believe the 18-year-old man and the 17-year-old boy arrested might have been involved in several unreported robberies. The detectives are asking potential robbery victims to come forward.
The strong-arm robbery was reported in the afternoon of May 3 outside at a specialty market near Stockton Boulevard and 65th Street. Deputies from the sheriff’s Problem-Oriented Policing team determined that a suspect approached a 54-year-old woman in the parking lot and forcibly ripped away her phone and phone wallet case from her, sheriff’s officials announced in a news release Friday.
The Sheriff’s Office released security camera video that shows a black car parked in reverse in a spot near the woman’s parked car. Shortly after, the woman walked out of one of the businesses.
She walked to her car and was trying to get inside, when one suspect got out of the left rear passenger seat, grabbed the woman’s belongings and got back in the rear passenger seat as someone else drove the car away.
The woman, while screaming, frantically tried to reach into the black car’s passenger seat to retrieve her belongings. She fell to the ground as the black car pulled out of the parking spot. Others rushed to her aid after she got up and told them what just happened.
The video shows that the suspect did not use a gun or a weapon during the robbery, which lasted about 15 seconds.
The deputies and the robbery detectives later identified one of the suspects, the 18-year-old man, and arrested him on May 10. Sheriff’s officials said he was released from the jail the same day after posting a bail bond and is scheduled to return to Sacramento Superior Court June 5.
Detectives also obtained an arrest warrant for the teen, who was taken into custody without incident Thursday at Cosumnes Oaks High School in Elk Grove. Sheriff’s officials said authorities found in his backpack a Polymer80 handgun with a high-capacity ammunition magazine loaded with 9 mm rounds. The handgun is a privately manufactured gun, commonly known as a ghost gun. The 17-year-old was booked at the Sacramento County Juvenile Hall.
