An attempted armed robbery Sunday night at the Fayette Pavilion by teenagers from Riverdale did not go the way they planned.
The man they approached at gunpoint said, “No,” refused to give up his vehicle and walked back toward the Kohl’s department store.
The flummoxed would-be robbers were caught a short time later after a Fayetteville cop patrolling the Pavilion alerted other officers.
Det. Mike Whitlow said the incident occurred just after 6 p.m. when a man from out of state exited Kohl’s and was met at his rental car by two males who demanded that the man give them his vehicle. One of the males produced a handgun. The man refused and walked away, Whitlow said.
As he walked away to the store, the man flagged down a Fayetteville officer patrolling the area and told him what had happened, Whitlow said.
Whitlow said the man gave a description of the two males and officers were able to obtain a description of their vehicle from the store’s video cameras.
The suspect vehicle was spotted by a Fayetteville officer on Ga. Highway 314. The officer and units from the sheriff’s office pursued the vehicle that was subsequently abandoned behind a church on Kenwood Road, Whitlow said.
“There were three people in the vehicle. One got away, but we know who he is. Deputies caught the other two in Princeton Chase subdivision.”
The two males taken into custody were Riverdale residents ages 14 and 16, said Whitlow.
Whitlow said suspect vehicle had been stolen in Atlanta during a carjacking.
“The added police presence at the Pavilion paid off,” Whitlow said. “And that police presence will continue throughout the upcoming holidays.”
