An armed robbery at a T-Mobile store June 17 on Sandy Springs’ Roswell Road ended with two suspects’ arrests after their car crashed into two other vehicles before becoming disabled, according to police.
Tarris Young, 33, of Union City and Zacchaeus Tillman, 23, of Atlanta were arrested on armed robbery, firearms and drug charges, according Sgt. Salvador Ortega, spokesperson for the Sandy Springs Police Department.
SSPD officers were sent to the store at 5650 Roswell Road shortly after 11:30 a.m., Ortega said in a press release.
Police allege the suspects stepped into the T-Mobile store wearing face masks and displaying handguns. The four employees were taken to the back of the store and bound with cable ties. Cellphones from the store and the car keys from a store employee were taken.
Initially one suspect allegedly started up the employee’s vehicle, but left its engine running and got into a car with the other suspect, Ortega said.
Descriptions of the suspects and their car enabled them to spot the vehicle near Mount Vernon Highway and Hammond Drive. An attempt to turn onto Heards Ferry Road resulted in the suspects’ vehicle crashing into another vehicle stopped at the traffic light. After sideswiping a second vehicle, they drove on Mount Vernon Highway until their vehicle became disabled.
Ortega said the suspects left the damaged 2019 Ford Fusion to flee on foot in different directions toward the neighborhood. A traffic unit officer caught the first suspect. Officers found the second suspect behind a River Shore Estates subdivision home. Both men were apprehended without further incidents.
None of the T-Mobile employees were injured in the armed robbery. The drivers of the two vehicles allegedly struck by the suspects’ vehicle escaped serious injury, Ortega said. The stolen cellphones and two firearms police say were used in the robbery were recovered.
Ortega said Young and Tillman were charged with two counts of armed robbery; felony fleeing and attempting to elude; four counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit armed robbery; reckless driving; four counts of false imprisonment; two counts of possession of cocaine; six counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony; and six counts of possession of a firearm.