Palo Alto Police Stop Shoplifters, Learn Two Are Carjacking Suspects

PALO ALTO, CA —Four male suspects were arrested Saturday in Palo Alto after they allegedly stole laundry detergent and chicken and threatened an employee at a local grocery store, police said.

When PAPD officers pulled over the 2007 Toyota Corolla in which the men were traveling, they discovered the car had been reported stolen and that two of the suspects were wanted for a carjacking earlier in the day Concord, police said.

The PAPD said it contacted Concord police, and that department arrested two adult male suspects.

Both suspects, along with another accomplice arrested earlier in the day, were charged with carjacking and conspiracy to commit a felony, and the trio was transported to the Martinez Detention Facility, according to Concord Police Department, which has not named the suspects.

Meanwhile, Palo Alto police said the two other occupants of the stolen vehicle were juveniles and they were arrested for robbery and conspiracy, both of which are felonies.

One of the juveniles, a 17-year-old from Pittsburg in Contra Costa County, was released on a criminal citation to a family member, police said.

The other juvenile, a 15-year-old from Pittsburg, was transported to Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall, according to police.

Police said the second juvenile suspect also was arrested for providing a false name to police.

Palo Alto police said they are not naming the suspects because they are under the age of 18.

According to police reports, at about 9:28 p.m. on Saturday, the PAPD received a call about a strong-arm robbery shoplift committed by four suspects at the Safeway store at 2811 Middlefield Road.

The suspects had fled the scene by the time officers arrived. But police learned the suspects had entered the Safeway with open backpacks and had started removing laundry detergent packages from the shelves and putting them into the backpacks, according to reports.

Police said a female store employee confronted the suspects, and the suspects threatened to kill her.

The suspects, according to police, then picked up cooked chicken from the shelf, began throwing it to the ground, and then left the store and fled in the Toyota Corolla.

According to police, a responding officer located the vehicle driving away from the store, going northbound in the 2400 block of Middlefield Road.

Police said they attempted to stop the car once it turned westbound on Oregon Expressway, but the driver initially refused to yield. Officers finally stopped the vehicle in the 200 block of Page Mill Road, and officers detained the suspects without incident.

The PAPD said officers discovered the stolen laundry detergent and chicken in the car.

The vehicle had no license plates on either the front or back, police said. When officers ran a check of the car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), they discovered that the vehicle had been carjacked in Concord earlier in the day, according to police.