Court date
Suspect charged in robbery of man standing on corner
Alejandro Emmanuel Urrea, 24, was arraigned at Yuma Justice Court Monday, informed by Justice of the Peace Greg Stewart that he’d been charged with two felonies stemming from an alleged armed robbery that occurred last week.
The charges brought by prosecutors from the Yuma County Attorney’s Office included one count of aggravated assault and one count of attempted robbery, both class 3 felonies.
Stewart set a preliminary hearing for 4 p.m. March 24.
Urrea, who made his initial appearance last Thursday and is currently being held in the Yuma County jail on $100,000 bond, told the court he intended to hire his own attorney rather than be assigned a public defender. Neither a private attorney nor a public defender was with him in the courtroom Monday.
According to Yuma police, at approximately 6:07 p.m. March 15, officers responded to a report of an armed robbery that took place in the 1500 block of S. Avenue A.
The witness told police that he was standing on that northwest corner at S. Avenue A when a white BMW pulled up to him.
A passenger in the vehicle then demanded property from the victim while brandishing a handgun, which appeared to have a malfunction. At that point, the victim ran from the area and called police.
Minutes later, an officer located the vehicle in the area of 8th Street and Avenue B, but the driver refused to stop. The pursuit was soon called off due to safety reasons.
The vehicle was last seen crossing the Ocean-to-Ocean Bridge into California, according to police, and was found abandoned a short time later in a Winterhaven parking lot.
Urrea was located back in Yuma at approximately 10:44 p.m. and taken into custody.
YPD said there are three suspects still outstanding, one male and two females. The BMW was later reported stolen.