Three suspects involved in an armed robbery at the Starbucks on Willow Avenue in Hercules were arrested after a multi-city pursuit Wednesday afternoon, police said.
About 1 p.m., a gun-toting man wearing a mask and orange safety vest fled the Starbucks with a large amount of cash in the direction of Cambridge Drive, the Hercules Police Department reported.
A witness told arriving officers the suspect got into a gray BMW sedan that headed toward I-80. An officer spotted the vehicle containing three suspects on eastbound I-80 near Cummings Skyway and summoned for backup, but the suspects led them on a pursuit to Highway 37 in Vallejo and then back toward Oakland, police said. After driving the wrong way on I-580 and abandoning their vehicle under an overpass, the suspects were taken into custody with help from California Highway Patrol ground and air units (see footage of the pursuit from the sky here), and Emeryville and Oakland police officers, police said.
The vehicle contained evidence confirming the subject’s involvement in the Starbucks robbery, police said.
The male suspect, an Alameda resident, had the stolen cash in his clothing and was taken into custody by the CHP after a short foot pursuit, while the female getaway driver, an Oakland resident, and the third suspect, also a female from Oakland, were taken into custody by Hercules police.
“The two female suspects were staged in the BMW near Starbucks waiting as the getaway vehicle while the male suspect went to commit the robbery,” police said. “In addition to having a gun in the commission of this crime, the three suspects were communicating through walkie-talkies to coordinate their getaway. Fortunately you cannot outrun an air unit with a car.”
No one was injured during the robbery and pursuit. The suspects were booked into Martinez Detention Facility.
