Phoenix police looking for suspects in separate 2016 aggravated robberies

This article originally appeared May 23, 2016.

It’s been over eight years, and detectives in Phoenix are still searching for answers in separate aggravated robberies.

In the first case, two young men went into a Radio Shack at Indian School Road and 16th Street on April 7, 2016.

Initially, the suspects pretended to be customers, with the clerk even engaging in conversation with them. However, when they found the Bluetooth speakers they were looking for, they just took them right out the door.

As they left, one of the suspects threatened the store clerk with pepper spray, police said. The clerk wasn’t hurt.

“There are two trends we’re seeing. Stores are using better surveillance equipment, which makes it easier to identify the suspects,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jamie Rothschild said.

“The other trend is when these types of crimes are happening, you can usually look around and see people are typically on their cellphones and not paying attention to their surroundings. We don’t want them to intervene, but by being more aware of their surroundings they can be better witnesses, and it makes them safer as well.”

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Next, a 21-year-old woman is followed home from the store and attacked in front of her apartment.

It happened March 15, 2016, just after 7:30 p.m. The woman was walking home by herself from WalMart near 36th Street and Thomas Road in the dark when two men began following her.

“In this case, they physically accosted her and threw her to the ground while fighting with her to try to get her purse,” Rothschild said.

The woman wasn’t seriously hurt but this could have turned out a lot worse.

If you need to walk somewhere, especially at night, you’re encouraged to call a friend or someone else you trust to go with you and avoid walking alone.

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