Man, 76, robbed at gunpoint in Piedmont
Victim not hurt in the Wednesday afternoon robbery
PIEDMONT >> A 76-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon by two suspects, police said.
The vehicle used by the suspects was stopped by Alameda County sheriff's deputies in San Leandro Thursday morning and two 17-year-old boys were detained. One of the boys was wanted by the sheriff's office for a highly publicized armed robbery of a dog earlier this year in Castro Valley, sheriff's Lt. Ray Kelly said.
Police did not say whether investigators believe the two detained are responsible for the Piedmont robbery.
In the Piedmont robbery, the man, a Piedmont resident, was walking in the area of Sea View and LaSalle
avenues about 3:40 p.m. Wednesday when two males approached him. One of them pointed a gun at the man and they took his belongings,
police said. The man was not hurt. The suspects fled in a red, four-door Nissan Altima with tinted windows.
Its image was captured on the city's license plate cameras.
In the Castro Valley robbery, which took place in
January, a woman and her adult daughter were out walking with the woman's French bulldog “Tito” when a vehicle pulled up and three suspects with guns got out. They took the dog and a purse and fled in the vehicle, authorities said at the time. The woman's Mercedes was stolen from her home later that night; the keys to the vehicle had been in the purse. The vehicle was also later recovered.
Tito was recovered less than two weeks later at a San Leandro home, where the residents told deputies they had no idea he had been stolen, authorities said.
The sheriff's department made numerous arrests in connection with that robbery and obtained a warrant for the boy arrested Thursday. Authorities said at the time the group was responsible for numerous other robberies. Members of the group, including the two arrested Thursday, are currently being investigated as suspects in other robberies, authorities said.
Anyone with information about the Piedmont robbery is asked to call Det. George Tucker at 510-420-3013 or 510-420-300.