Police searching for suspects in 2016 Phoenix nightclub robbery
Jan 2, 2025, 10:00 AM
This article originally appeared Jan. 9, 2017.
The El Capri Nightclub near 21st and Van Buren streets is typically packed on Saturday nights with people young and old wanting to hit the dance floor and listen to the Mexican and Latin music.
But this was a quiet Sunday – Nov. 27, 2016 – not quite 11 a.m. at the popular club. Officers were sent to the club on a robbery call.
“They came across several victims, one of which was an 83-year-old male who is one of the owners of the business,” Phoenix Police Detective Michael Hubbs said.
The suspects didn’t get in through a door that was left open. They confronted an employee when he went out to his car and forced him back into the club.
“The victims basically described that several armed subjects entered the business, gathered them up and took them to the main office, where they forced them to the floor,” Hubbs said.
Most of the six intruders had their faces covered as they beat and robbed the victims.
Why hit on a Sunday morning? That caught Hubbs’ attention as well. He doesn’t believe this was planned, but rather a crime of opportunity.
A surveillance camera at a business across the street got video of a small black SUV entering the parking lot just before the robbery and leaving afterwards.
