Five teenagers were arrested Thursday following an armed robbery pursuit that ended in a crash on Aurora’s East Side, the Aurora Police Department said on Friday.
On Thursday at around 3:25 p.m., Aurora police officers responded to the area of Howell Place and Fourth Avenue on the city’s East Side for a report of an armed robbery, a news release from the police department said.
Dispatchers relayed a report that a juvenile had been approached by two masked individuals who displayed a firearm and forcibly took the person’s property, according to police.
A preliminary investigation suggests that the juvenile was walking home from school when two people, dressed in black and wearing ski masks, blocked the juvenile’s path on the sidewalk, the news release said. One produced a handgun, while the other forcibly removed the juvenile’s property, according to police, with the two then running to a nearby SUV which fled the area.
Shortly after, responding officers located the vehicle through the use of license plate reader technology relayed through the Critical Incident Intelligence Center, police said. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, which resulted in a pursuit after the driver failed to stop, the news release said.
The pursuit ended when the fleeing vehicle crashed near East Galena Boulevard and North State Street in Aurora, police said in the release.
Two of the people involved fled the scene of the crash, but were apprehended after a brief foot chase, the release said. Five individuals in total were detained, and a firearm police believe is related to the incident was recovered, according to police.
Detectives from the department’s Investigations Division responded to the scene, as did evidence technicians, to begin an investigation, the release said.
As of Friday evening, charges have been authorized against three of the five individuals.
Antoine Jackson, 19, of Oswego, has been charged with armed robbery, theft, mob action and aggravated battery on a public way, according to the news release. Rufo Alarcon, 18, of Aurora, has been charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding and resisting a police officer, causing injury, officials said. A third individual, from Aurora, 16, whose name was not given, was charged with armed robbery, unlawful possession of a defaced firearm, a FOID card violation, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, theft, mob action, aggravated battery on a public way and resisting a police officer, causing injury, according to the release.
The other two individuals, 16 and 15, were taken into custody, but had not yet been charged as of Friday evening, per the department.
The investigation is ongoing, the department said, with additional charges possible pending lab results and forensic review. The Aurora Police Department is asking anyone with information about the incident to call the Investigations Division at 630-256-5500.
