3 suspects in armored car robbery caught; 1 at large

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By Fran Jeffries

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Three suspects in an armored car robbery at a Wal-Mart in Oakwood Wednesday morning have been caught by Gwinnett County authorities, but one other remains at large.

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Channel 2 Action News Police said the suspects crashed the SUV they were driving into a creek.

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The suspects robbed the armored vehicle in front of the Wal-Mart on Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood, then led police on a chase into Gwinnett County before their SUV crashed and the suspects ran, Oakwood Police Chief Randall Moon told the AJC.

Moon said his department received a call about the robbery around 10 a.m. He said four suspects -- three men and one woman -- approached a Loomis armored truck which carried two employees and "forcibly took" money from the armed driver.

"The robbers placed their hands on her and grabbed money from her as she was loading it from the back of the truck," Moon said.

"They took an undisclosed amount of money, got in the car and left," Moon told the AJC. The Loomis employees were not injured, he said.

The suspects, fleeing in an SUV, were chased by Oakwood police, Hall County sheriff's deputies and the Georgia State Patrol. When the chase entered Gwinnett County, authorities there joined in.

Sgt. Stephen Wilbanks, Hall sheriff's spokesman, told the Gainesville Times that the suspects crashed into a creek near Woodward Mill Road and were pursued by police dogs.

Roberts Elementary School in Buford was placed on lockdown, according to Channel 2 Action News.

Oakwood police, who had been training at a nearby hotel when the incident happened, had cordoned off the area around the pharmacy/bank entrance to Wal-Mart and questioned witnesses for several minutes.

Between the witnesses and the video system at Wal-Mart, we've got some pretty good (information)," Moon told the AJC.

The police chase was the second in the past few weeks that started in Hall and ended in another county. On Dec. 28, James Thomas Faulkner of Flowery Branch, led police on a chase starting on McEver Road in Hall and ending with him crashing at Johns Creek in Fulton County.