Royal Oak Armed Robbery Suspect Arrested

ROYAL OAK, MI — Police arrested an unidentified man suspected of robbing a Crooks Road gas station early Thursday. Royal Oak officers were called to a Speedway Gas station near 14 Mile Road at 2:15 a.m. and were told by a clerk that a man wearing a black shirt pointed a gun at him and demanded money, according to police reports.

The man was in the station for several minutes before he made the demand, the clerk told police. Royal Oak Police Sgt. Donald Swiatkowski said in a statement that officers saw a man on a bicycle near Crooks and Lexington Avenue, about a half-mile away from the station, who matched the physical description of the suspect and stopped him.

Swiatkowski told the Royal Oak Tribune that the man’s clothes did not match the clerk’s description. Police said they investigated further and found the man was carrying an Airsoft replica handgun that matched the description provided by the clerk in the alleged robbery, the newspaper reported.

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Royal Oak Patch, click here to find your local Michigan Patch. Also, follow us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

A Royal Oak Police K-9 unit did a track in the area and two black shirts and other clothes were found in a dumpster near Crooks and Normandy that matched the clerk’s description of clothes the gunman was wearing. After stopping the man, “the suspect was also in possession of narcotic paraphernalia and had a large amount of cash hidden in his shoe,” Swiatkowski said in a statement.

The suspect was expected to be arraigned Friday in Royal Oak’s 44th District Court. Police said he is also a suspect in a breaking and entering case in Troy.

Nobody was hurt in the Royal Oak incident. “The clerk gave the man the money from the cash drawer and the suspect immediately left the store,” Swiatkowski said.

Royal Oak police are still seeking additional information as they continue their investigation and anyone with tips is asked to call Lt. Keith Spencer at 248-246-3456.

File photo