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SALT LAKE CITY — Four people suspected of committing a series of armed robberies were arrested following a chase with police early Tuesday.
The four allegedly held up more than a half-dozen 7-Eleven stores since last week.
Lorenz Proctor, 23, and Noldon Oliver, 18, of West Valley City, and two juveniles were arrested Tuesday morning. The adults were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of eight counts each of aggravated robbery.
On Tuesday, a 7-Eleven at 1285 N. Redwood Road was robbed at gunpoint by three males at 1:44 a.m. with a fourth believed to be waiting in a getaway vehicle outside, said Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking. The three inside the store pistol-whipped the clerk before leaving, he said.
At 2:11 a.m., a 7-Eleven at 875 E. 400 South was robbed of money by the same three, Wilking said. No one was injured in that incident.
After that, the group is suspected of committing two to three more robberies in Magna, West Valley City and South Jordan, he said, before being arrested following a chase with Unified police about 4 a.m.
A Unified police officer spotted the suspects' vehicle near 12600 South and 4000 West. The officer waited for backup to get into place, then attempted to make a felony stop — or high-risk stop — on the silver Lexus near 11400 South and Bangerter Highway, Unified police detective Ken Hansen said.
The suspect vehicle took off at a high rate of speed, starting a chase that involved several different agencies, he said. The chase ended when the fleeing driver took the off-ramp at 7800 South too fast and crashed into the sound wall, Hansen said. The four occupants got out of the car and ran. One was captured quickly with the use of a police K-9, he said. The other three were rounded up about 20 minutes later.
"Located by the Lexus was a Ruger 9mm handgun. At the time of the arrest, there was a green bag located with a large sum of currency, the denominations being ones, fives, tens and twenties," according to a Salt Lake County Jail report.
The same men are suspected of robbing 7-Eleven stores in Sandy, West Jordan, and Midvale on Friday. Proctor was the alleged getaway driver at all eight robberies, the report states.
At 4:24 a.m. on Friday, a Sandy police officer went to a 7-Eleven, 7800 S. 700 East, to keep an eye on the store. Stores in Midvale and West Jordan had just been robbed and the officer went to the store in Sandy as a precaution, according to police. When be got there, he learned the store had been robbed just a minute earlier, police stated.
In that case, two men brandished handguns and took money.
