Two Teens Tracked, Arrested After Violent Encounter Outside Mayfair

Thanks to a quick-witted civilian staffer at the Wauwatosa police station, two of three suspected thieves were rapidly tracked down and arrested at home after they threatened violence against a Mayfair Mall store security guard and then fled.

According to police reports:

At 1:35 p.m. Tuesday at a home in Milwaukee, a 16-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for theft and an 18-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft and being party to a crime after they and another male suspect were involved in a “grab and run” at at Mayfair Mall.

Earlier, the 16-year-old and the unknown suspect were being watched by store security when the 16-year-old grabbed an armload of jeans and they both ran.

A store security officer tackled the unknown suspect in the parking lot and was trying to handcuff him when a store manager shouted to him to "Let it go!"

He looked up to see a red Volvo coming at him with the rear passenger door open and the 16-year-old suspect in back, waving a steering wheel “club” at him. The guard retreated and the youth he had been holding, minus his hat, coat, shirt and cell phone, ran and leaped into the car.

The car had no rear license plate, and store personnel got only the first three numbers of the front plate.

But hearing the dispatch, a civilian police clerk remembered a car of the same description having been involved in another incident and knew the full license number.

An officer was sent to the address in Milwaukee where the car was registered and spotted three young males walking toward the front of the house from the alley. She called out to them, "Do you live here?" and one answered "Yes!" just before all three scuttled into the house.

The officer called for assistance and drove to the alley, where she spotted the red Volvo and saw the stolen jeans inside.

The two suspects still in the house when back-up units arrived were arrested without incident. Police believe that the third suspect left before officers could surround the home.

The 16-year-old had also been arrested on Jan. 9 for theft at .