Richmond police arrested a suspected robber who met his victim on the Letgo app, which allows users to buy and sell used items.
A few days ago, the suspect and victim used Letgo to negotiate a $1,000 price for the suspect’s Nissan Versa, police said. They met at the Richmond BART Station, where the victim brought $1,000 in cash. The suspect delayed the transaction by saying the car was on the way. As they were talking, the victim saw the handle of a dark-colored firearm inside an unzipped messenger-style bag on the ground next to the suspect, police said.
“The suspect then reached into the bag, pulled out the firearm and pointed it at the victim,” police said. “Before the suspect fled, he said to the victim, ‘…nice meeting you, bro…’”
The victim chased after the armed suspect, and was lucky that a K-9 police unit witnessed the chase.
“Officer Hodges started to chase the suspect and warned him of canine Gunnar’s deployment if he refused to stop,” police said. “The warning proved to be what was necessary to stop the suspect in his tracks and obeyed Officer Hodges’ orders.”
The suspect confessed to the robbery, police said.
For those looking to make exchanges with people they meet online, consider doing so at a safe exchange zone, such as one that the Richmond Police Department unveiled at its headquarters in 2017.
