Crime in Broken Arrow. I know it’s out there, having been victimized myself. But bound and gagged at gunpoint, herded to the back of the store while the rest of the gang bags up the goods?
That isn’t the small town BA that I’m familiar with.
My sympathies to the folks at Radio Shack on South Elm who had to undergo such an ordeal Wednesday night. Thankfully, there was no tragic outcome.
The way the police tell it, an employee – who wasn’t working at the time – visited the store in the evening, only to find people inside, obviously in the middle of a robbery. It was shortly before nine o’clock at the Elm store south of 111th Street.
The timely arrival of that staff member and the quick response of the police had the bandits scattering out the front and back doors, while others jumped in a vehicle and sped away.
One of the runners was smart enough to recognize the futility of continuing, and stopped. He dropped his gun, took off his ski mask, and gave himself up. Another jumped into the backyard of a nearby residence and tried to make himself invisible. The police dog would have none of it. The young man was rooted out and arrested.
The other two were taken into custody shortly afterward in Tulsa.
They must have imagined themselves as big-time crooks, carrying guns and ski masks, and wearing body armor – as though anticipating a shootout. The four ranged in age from 18 to 23. They are in for some life-highlights over the course of the near future. The charges sound pretty serious: armed robbery, wearing a mask during the commission of a felony (I had not heard of that one before…), kidnapping, wearing body armor in the commission of a felony (another one they don’t mention on CSI), larceny of an automobile, and conspiracy.
Enough complaints there to keep several attorneys busy for some time, no doubt.
I remember a robbery in Oklahoma City years ago where the employees were rounded up and moved to a walk-in cooler. That event ended badly. There have been several robberies at gunpoint since that time in Tulsa that had similar outcomes.
Given that our country seems to have been given over to violence and mayhem, it’s fortunate that this criminal activity ended the way it did. Kudos to the employee for his serendipitous timing and alert reaction – and to the BA police for quickly rounding up the bad guys.