LITTLE ROCK — Little Rock police arrested two of three men Monday they say were involved in at least six armed robberies over the past two months.
After a 40-minute foot chase that cut through yards in the Broadmoor Lake area in the afternoon, police caught up with Alvin Aikens, 20, who had four aggravated robbery warrants issued for his arrest.
Another man, Eddie Mc-Clendon, 45, of 7200 Yarberry Lane, turned himself in to detectives early Monday night on an aggravated robbery warrant in connection with the Dec. 6 robbery of the Family Dollar store at 8824 Geyer Springs Road.
While detectives patted him down outside the department’s headquarters, McClendon asked them to get his face off local TV news broadcasts. Television stations have been running a mug shot of him in reports.
According to Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings, Aikens is suspected of being the robber who walked into the Neighborhood Grocery at 4423 W. 12th St. on Sunday, pulled a silver revolver and forced an employee to empty all the registers.
Detectives were on a stakeout looking for Aikens from early morning into the afternoon, according to Hastings, and officers attempted to pull over Aikens’ car near 5 Irving Drive.
According to arrest reports, Aikens took off on foot, leaping over several fences and cutting through backyards for more than 40 minutes.
“We had him set up ... but he managed to take off,” Hastings said. “He’s running with a pair of running pants and shoes against our guys with equipment, we had to call in extra help.”
It took a neighbor in the area of Lakeshore Drive to help police track Aikens down, Hastings said.
The witness spotted a man hiding in the backyard at 62 Lakeshore Drive, just a few houses away from where he had been staying. Hastings said once officers located him, he was arrested without incident, and was found with six bags of marijuana.
Aikens, of 4616 Timberland Drive, faces four felony theft of property charges, and is the suspect in the Nov. 4 and Nov. 9 robberies of Cupid’s, a lingerie store at 3920 W. 65th St.
Detectives also think he was the gunman who walked into Delicious Fashions at 3101 Asher Ave. on Dec. 11,pretended to shop and then robbed the store as well as the clerk.
Robbery detectives are still looking for a third man, Brandon Goodloe, 25, of 9101 Auxor Road, who has a warrant out for his arrest in connection with the Nov. 18 robbery of three men at the Fast Mart at 4920 Base Line Road.
“These are the guys [suspected] in most of the [recent] robberies,” Hastings said. “They’re the ones we feel are the most dangerous.”
Hastings said it was possible that the three suspects had some sort of connection, but he said it was more than likely that they were working independently.
While detectives have tied Aikens to Sunday’s grocery store robbery, Hastings said they think the other two suspects might be connected to any of the six business robberies in Little Rock that occurred over the weekend.
Arkansas, Pages 12 on 12/20/2011