Suspect in armed robberies arrested

7/31/2005

Police arrested a man for his role in a string of armed robberies that occurred within minutes of each other yesterday in North Toledo.

There were no reported injuries.

Emzie Wilson, 35, of 105 Hamilton St. was charged with three counts of aggravated robbery and booked into the Lucas County jail, pending arraignment in Toledo Municipal Court tomorrow.

About 12:20 p.m., a woman, whose name was not released, was robbed at gunpoint in the 2100 block of Walnut Street. Taken was a purse, a cell phone, and a light blue 1996 Ford Windstar minivan, with handicapped Ohio license plates, 384XBG, police said.

The woman told police she had just pulled up to the curb, turned off the ignition, and was about to get out of the vehicle when a man with a silver handgun tucked in his pants came up. He told her to "leave the keys and the cell phone in there, get out, and walk away or I'll shoot you," and she complied, officers said.

Witnesses told police they saw the man drive off in the minivan and pick up a woman who came from an alley in the 800 block of Moore Street. Minutes later, two men were robbed of cash, one in the 400 block of Dexter Street and the other in the 500 block of Bronson Avenue, by a man brandishing a sawed-off shotgun who drove off in the stolen minivan. Both men who were robbed were in their vehicles at the time, officers said.

About 8 p.m., officers stopped Mr. Wilson, who was driving the stolen vehicle on Central Avenue at Mulberry Street, and arrested him, police said.

The suspect in the robbery spree may have been in the company of a thin female in her 20s, about 5 feet and 7 inches tall, who had long hair in a weave, they said.