Recently in Robbery Category

Police are searching for a dark-blue Buick LeSabre believed to be the getaway car used by two while males who held up Jerry's Food Store, 1172 Lawrence St., tonight a little before 9 p.m.

A machete was shown during the robbery, but I don't have many more details yet.

Suspects are described as two white males. One wore a red stocking cap.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lowell police at 978-937-3200 or Crimestoppers at 978-459-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent to police via Text-a-Tip, by texting TIP411 (847411) with the subject "LPDTIP."
Tipsters can remain anonymous, but can receive up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

I've been way too busy to blog tonight since I'm covering this, a bad crash, and a story about the charter school in Lowell, so I'm just going to paste my story and stick a couple photos in it as I go.

All photos are by Tory Germann, which is why they're so great. I just cropped them a bit to make them fit here in the blog.

LOWELL -- Police surrounded a building in the Market Mills apartment complex downtown and called in a regional SWAT team yesterday morning after a man robbed a 73-year-old cab driver at gunpoint and then fled into the building.

Police got a 911 call reporting the armed robbery at 9:27 a.m. The driver for Town Taxi told police he picked a man up at 256 Market St., drove him to the Camelot Court condominium complex on Pawtucket Boulevard, and then drove him back to 256 Market St.
Back downtown, the man, later identified as Shayne Sullivan, 20, of 256 Market St., Unit 118, paid the cab driver, but then put a gun to the driver's head, according to police.
"He put it right there," the shaken cab driver said as he pointed to his temple yesterday morning outside the building. "He was all ready to shoot me."
The cab driver said his name was Al, but did not give his last name.

This is the cab driver, who remained at the scene during the standoff.

The driver said Sullivan got "only a few bucks" from him since it was early on a Sunday morning.
Police learned that Sullivan had fled into the building at 256 Market St., which is also home to the Brush Art Gallery and Studios and next door to the Visitor's Center for the Lowell National Historic Park.
Officers tracked Sullivan to a specific apartment in the building, but were told by a family member that Sullivan made threatening statements regarding police.
Sullivan was located in the bedroom of a unit in the building, but refused to open the door for police.
Police say Sullivan was already "well known" to them. Based on that history and the threatening statements he allegedly made, a SWAT team from the North East Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council was called in.
Officers with the SWAT team got into the bedroom and arrested Sullivan without further incident a little before 1 p.m.

He was being held last night on charges of armed robbery and assault and battery on a person over 60.
Police said they also recovered a realistic-looking pellet gun.
Kathleen Marcin, president of the Lowell Downtown Neighborhood Association, said she first noticed police activity when she looked out her window in the morning.
She noticed police were still there when she looked out again about an hour later, but was not alarmed until she walked to Market Street to meet someone and saw even more police, and a SWAT team truck driving down the street.
"It was unnerving to see the SWAT team," Marcin said. "You think about the safety of all the people who are in that building."
Sullivan has a history with police. In April 2007, he was arrested in Lowell and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon (handgun). In December of that year, he was among three men arrested in Waltham at a home where police found a loaded AK-47-style semiautomatic assault rifle, a Remington shotgun, two other rifles and ammunition, according to published reports.
In that incident, two men caught breaking into a home in Waltham told police they had earlier been robbed.
Sullivan was among three men who were charged with two counts of armed robbery and a single count of armed assault with intent to rob in connection with that case.
It was not clear last night whether that case was ever closed.
Staff Writer David Perry contributed to this report.

Police are off at the scene of a reported robbery at Top Donut on Bridge Street in Centralville.

They got the call about 7:40 p.m., and got there within seconds since an officer was already at the scene of Friday's fire about 3 blocks down the street.

According to radio broadcasts no weapon was shown, but the suspect may have had one since he kept his hands in his pockets. He is described as a white or Hispanic male in his late 40s, with gray hair and gold earrings. He's about 5'9 with a medium build.

He wore a camouflage jacket, light-colored jeans.

UPDATE: Police got information that this suspect was on his way to Tedeschi's at 220 Appleton St., and took a man into custody there.

After a showup, the guy in the video below was taken into custody for unarmed robbery.

Police say he is David Aguilar, 48, of 49 Mt. Pleasant St., in Billerica. He is charged with unarmed robbery.

Here's some video of being searched and put in the wagon.

Ayer Police are asking the public to help them identify the man pictured below in connection with a bank robbery at the North Middlesex Savings Bank, 7 Main St., Ayer, on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say this man never showed a weapon, but passed a note to a teller which claimed he had a gun. He escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Anyone with information is asked to call Ayer Police at 978-772-8200, and ask for Detective Kularski or Officer Morrison.

Bedford had two bank robberies in three days this week, first on Saturday morning at Citizens Bank, 287 Great Road, and then on Tuesday afternoon at Brookline Bank, 168 Great Road.

Detective Lt. Scott Jones called me tonight to tell me police had arrested a 21-year-old man, Hector Marrero, of 119 Pine St., Waltham, this afternoon in Carlisle and charged him with both robberies.

Marrero was arrested at 852 North Road in Carlisle, which is said to be the address of someone he knows. No one else at that address was implicated.

Marrero was held on $25,000 cash bail Wednesday night, and will be arraigned Thursday in Concord District Court. He faces two counts of unarmed robbery.

No weapon was shown in either robbery. In both cases, a note demanding cash was passed to a teller.

Jones said the FBI's violent crime task force, Waltham Police, Carlisle Police, state police, and the Middlesex County Sheriff's Office contributed to the investigation.

It sounds like White Hen Pantry at Princeton Boulevard and Wood Street got robbed tonight about 7:45 p.m.

Handgun shown, though it was later said someone thought the gun was a BB gun.

Suspect is a light-skinned Hispanic male, about 5'4, 150 to 170 pounds, wearing red sweat pants, a blue sweatshirt, and a black and white bandana over his face.

Fled toward Columbia Street with someone chasing him. The person chasing the suspect saw the suspect jump a fence and then heard a car take off, so possibly a car involved, but no description of it available.

No report of injuries.

Anyone with information is asked to call Lowell police at 978-937-3200 or Crimestoppers at 978-459-TIPS (8477). Information can also be sent to police via Text-a-Tip, by texting TIP411 (847411) with the subject "LPDTIP."
Tipsters can remain anonymous, but can receive up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest.

Tyngsboro Police got a call to Washington Savings Bank, 253 Middlesex Road, today at 2:29 p.m.

Officers learned a white, middle-aged woman had entered the bank, passed a note to a teller demanding cash, and then escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash. No weapon was shown.

The woman was last seen walking down Farwell Road next to the bank, and was seen getting into a small, gray two-door vehicle, that may have been a Honda, police said.

She is described as a white female, middle-aged, wearing all black, with a coat, hat and sunglasses.

You can also refer to the photos of her during the holdup that are spread throughout this entry.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tyngsboro Police at 978.649.7504.