Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: A teen was robbed at gunpoint while watching a fight at Glenn Meadows Park.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – A couple of juveniles used the scene of a fight at Glenn Meadows Park on Saturday to rob another teen at gunpoint.
Officers later confiscated a Smith and Wesson 10mm M&P model handgun allegedly used in the robbery, as well as a Glock 19X BB gun that was stolen in the heist.
Officers were initially dispatched at about 2 p.m. to Glenn Meadows Park at 3001 S. 14th Ave. regarding a fight. However, while the two juveniles fought, the suspect reportedly pulled a gun on the victim who was watching the fight, and pointed it directly at him. At that time, another juvenile suspect took the victim’s fanny pack containing the Glock BB gun and a necklace. The perpetrators allegedly threw the necklace back and left the scene before tossing the bag in an alleyway near 12th Avenue and 29th Street. The entire crime was captured on Snapchat video, which was provided to authorities and corroborated the victim’s version of events. The empty bag was located by police as well.
The teenage victim then used Snapchat to provide a possible location for the suspects at a residence off Tucson Street, however, that turned out to be where one of the juveniles involved in the fight was staying. Officers later learned the suspects might be at an address in the Copper Canyon subdivision, and while driving through the area they located the vehicle seen in surveillance video from the park that fled from the incident. Officers contacted several nearby residences and after locating the parties involved managed to identify the perpetrators, and were advised the gunman was at the Tucson Street residence.
Officers then went back to that house and contacted the alleged gunman, who was interviewed and taken into custody. He was then referred to Graham County Juvenile Probation for two counts of armed robbery, misconduct involving weapons, and endangerment.
The juvenile allegedly said he purchased the handgun from a private seller at SalsaFest earlier in the year but couldn’t remember the name.
The juvenile suspect was transported to the Safford Police Department, where he was picked up by probation officers who then took him to the juvenile detention facility in Pinal County.
