A 14-year-old suspect is in custody after an armed robbery in East Pierce County
Sheriff’s deputies and police officers responded to two armed robberies Thursday night in East Pierce County.
A 14-year-old boy was booked into the Remann Hall juvenile detention facility on suspicion of first-degree robbery, resisting arrest, reckless driving, attempting to elude police and motor vehicle theft.
Detectives are still trying to identify several other suspects, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Sgt. Darren Moss Jr. wrote in an email.
He gave this account of what happened:
Around 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, a deputy responded to an armed robbery at a South Hill residence. The man who called said when he arrived home a man approached and pointed a gun at him, robbing him of his wallet and phone. The robbery happened about two miles from the Walmart at 16502 Meridian E.
The armed robber fled in a white SUV, and two other vehicles left with him. Moss said the deputy who responded to the scene had just filed a report of a white Kia SUV stolen from the Walmart.
Deputies tracked the stolen phone back to the same Walmart parking lot. Deputies found the SUV, but the driver took off. Deputies pursued the vehicle as it drove into oncoming lanes and caused a wreck at 128th Street East and Meridian Avenue East.
Deputies stopped the vehicle and arrested the 14-year-old driver.
While the 14-year-old was in custody, deputies were still tracking the phone. It moved toward downtown Puyallup. Moss said deputies believed the three vehicles at the South Hill residence were together at the Walmart — the phone was in another vehicle.
The phone stopped in Puyallup, then returned to where the 14-year-old had been caught.
At the same time, Puyallup police officers responded to an armed robbery that involved two suspects driving a black sedan. The suspects were in the same area of Puyallup where the phone had been. Two vehicles were seen fleeing from the area. A Puyallup police spokesperson did not immediately respond to The News Tribune’s request Friday for additional information about that robbery.
Next, officers tracked the phone north of Meridian Avenue and up to Edgewood. Deputies saw a dark-colored Kia sedan. The sedan took off as Edgewood police officers pursued it.
Officers chased the sedan to Brown’s Point, where three suspects fled the vehicle on foot. A police dog was at the scene, but none of the suspects were located. The stolen phone was left inside the vehicle.
Anyone with information can call 1-800-222-TIPS or submit tips at tpcrimestoppers.com.
