Teens Robbed In Separate Supermarket Parking Lot Incidents

A 15-year-old boy riding his bike in a Tidyman’s parking lot was chased, forced off the road and robbed Friday night by men flashing gang signs.

Two days later, two men with a knife forced a 13-year-old girl in a Safeway parking lot to give them the zip-up shirt she was wearing.

The parking lot robberies do not appear to be linked, sheriff’s deputies said, but both may have involved gang members.

The teenaged victims gave descriptions, but no arrests have been made.

In the Friday incident, two 15-year-old Valley boys were riding their bikes in the Tidyman’s parking lot at 13014 E. Sprague around 6 p.m. Three men drove by in a new white Ford Explorer with temporary Washington plates. The men flashed gang signs, said “gang stuff,” and asked for the boys’ bikes and money, sheriff’s deputies said.

The teens tried to lose the truck by riding their bikes around to the back of the parking lot, and heading to the intersection of 4th and McDonald. The Explorer came up behind them and veered toward them. They rode up onto the grass to avoid being hit, deputies said. The men told one of the boys to get into the Explorer. He refused, but handed over a $20 bill. The man took the money and raised a beer bottle in the air as if he was going to hit the teen, the boys said. The Explorer then drove away.

The teens said two of the suspects were Hispanic, about 18 to 20 years old. One had long dark hair in a ponytail, a mustache and a goatee. The other had short dark hair. One had a green cast on his arm. They didn’t get a good look at the third suspect, a white male.

On Sunday night, a 13-year-old Valley girl was robbed as she walked with her 15-year-old male cousin through the Safeway parking lot at 1441 N. Argonne. Just after 7, two men in a silver, four-door vehicle, possibly a Chevrolet, drove up to the teens and stopped, sheriff’s deputies said. A bald Hispanic man with a tattoo on the back of his neck got out of the car and asked them if they knew where all the parties were.

They said they didn’t know. The man then told the girl he liked her red, white and black zip-up “boss” shirt and wanted her to give it to him. The second man pulled a knife part-way out of his pants, showing about 6” of the blade, and told the girl she’d better give them the shirt.

She took off her shirt, handed it to him and the car drove away. She was wearing a T-shirt underneath, deputies said. The teens then called 911.

They described the men as Hispanic and about 18 to 20 years old. The driver was about 5-foot-7 with hair cut short on the sides of his head but long on top. The other suspect was bald, about 6-foot-2 with a tattoo on his neck.

, DataTimes