Phoenix police search for robbers after crime spree
A crime spree in northwest Phoenix ended Tuesday morning when the juvenile robbery suspects attempted to hold a jogger at gunpoint before the jogger took away their gun, according to a Phoenix police spokesman.
The gun was thought to be a fake and the teens attempted to flee the trail near 91st Avenue and Encanto Boulevard in a minivan, but they ran over a member of their group and bailed out of their minivan, said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman.
The events began when police received a call at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday about a home invasion in the 8500 block of West Monte Vista Road, Crump said. The residents reported that four of five teenage boys got out of a minivan, forced their way into the home and pistol-whipped two of the residents, Crump said.
The residents were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Crump said.
As officers were processing the scene at the home invasion, police dispatchers received a call about a jogger who was engaged in a standoff with a group near 91st Avenue and Encanto Boulevard, Crump said, and the van matched the description of the vehicle linked to the home invasion.
The jogger told officers that he was staying at a hotel in the area and was out for a morning run when a minivan pulled up next to him and a teenage boy holding a gun got out of the van, Crump said. The jogger struggled for the gun, eventually taking it away from the teen and realizing it was too light to be a real weapon, Crump said.
Others got out of the van and attempted to beat the jogger before one of the juveniles inside the van produced another weapon, Crump said. The jogger and the teens engaged in a roadside standoff that drew the attention of passersby and forced the teens to try to flee the area, he said.
In their haste to leave, the suspects ran over one of their accomplices, leaving him with non-life-threatening injuries to his lower body, Crump said.
The other teens fled into a nearby neighborhood, sparking a police search. Investigators believe at least one remains at large, Crump said.