An elementary school was locked down during the arrest of a robbery suspect late Tuesday morning.
Working on information obtained from a pair of recent convenience-store stickups, Little Rock detectives went to a home at 7525 Shady Grove Road shortly before 11 a.m. in search of Darius Johnson.
Police notified nearby Chicot Elementary School, located at 11100 Chicot Road, of the operation, and the school initiated a voluntary lock down, according to department officials.
The department’s SWAT team was called, but by 11:15 a.m. they were called off when Johnson, 18, surrendered to officers at the house. The lock down was called off by 11:40 a.m.
Johnson was charged with two counts of theft of property, two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of possession of a controlled substance, marijuana. He is being held in the Pulaski County jail.
According to department spokesman Lt. Sidney Allen, Johnson was the man who walked into the Site Store at 7320 Cantrell Road early Sunday morning, fired a shot at the store clerk, and made off with cash from the register and the drop box.
A man matching the description from the Sunday morning robbery was spotted in the middle of a robbery by a patrol officer about 12:26 a.m. Tuesday at the Shell Station at 7400 Cantrell Road.
The officer spotted the suspect standing behind the counter with a gun pointed at the clerk, Lupe Aguilar.
While Aguilar put money into a black bag for the suspect, the officer waited out front and called for backup, and then he went to the door, gun drawn, and ordered the suspect to get on the ground.
Aguilar fled from around the counter and went out the front door while the suspect started shooting out windows to hop out and escape.
The officer gave chase but lost the suspect in a nearby apartment complex. However, he found the money as well as a cap that fell off the suspect’s head.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 04/16/2014