(PUEBLO, Colo.) — Three adults and a teen have been arrested following an armed robbery with an assault rifle and a high speed chase that ended in the suspects crashing into a yard on Pueblo’s Lower East Side on Friday, Dec. 8.
According to the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), deputies initially responded to the Sinclair Convenience Store on Baster Road just before 11:45 a.m. on Friday, after an employee reported at least three people came in the store, one of them armed with an AR-style rifle, and demanded money.
PCSO said the employee hid in a cooler and called 911. Deputies are still investigating to find out if anything was taken from the store.
Footage from the store’s security cameras showed four suspects leaving in a white sedan, and a deputy patrolling in the area saw a car matching the description of the car involved in the robbery. The deputy found the car in a parking lot off of Highway 50 east of Pueblo. PCSO said as deputies drove up to the car, it took off at high speeds.
Deputies chased the car as it sped through several St. Charles Mesa area streets, eventually heading westbound toward Pueblo. Deputies followed the car north on Highway 227 into the East Side of Pueblo, and a deputy was able to use spike strips on the car. The driver lost control, and wrecked the sedan in a yard in the 300 block of Iola Avenue.
PCSO said deputies quickly took two of the suspects into custody, but the other two ran from the wrecked car. One was quickly found and captured in a neighboring yard, and the other was located and captured just before 1 p.m. in the 900 block of Beech Street, less than a block from the crash site. PCSO said an AR-style rifle was recovered.
The suspects have been identified as 19-year-old Jodhan Irvin, 19-year-old Samuel Phillips, 18-year-old Antoni Sandoval, and a 13-year-old boy who is not being identified due to his age.
Deputies continue to question the suspects, and charges will be forthcoming, PCSO said.
“This was fantastic police work,” said Pueblo County Sheriff David J. Lucero. “I am grateful for the quick actions of our deputies and other law enforcement partners who rapidly set up a perimeter and were able to apprehend all four suspects, preventing them from wreaking further havoc to the citizens of our community.”
