Witnesses run down suspected armed robbers

VICTORVILLE — Three armed robbery suspects, chased by good Samaritans after a woman was robbed at gunpoint, were arrested by an off-duty sheriff’s service specialist who joined the chase.

Armed Robbery

The weekend crime took place in the parking lot of a Winco store at 10 p.m., according to reports.

A female victim, who was not named by reports, was allegedly robbed by Victorville residents Darnell Harris and Willie Hines, both 21, along with an unidentified juvenile who was the younger brother of one suspect, while she was walking across the parking lot.

Dustin Whitson, a sheriff’s service specialist who was parked in his car, watched witnesses chase the suspects across the parking lot on Roy Rogers Drive.

“He watched the suspects flee on foot and he drove his vehicle into one of them, causing him to fall and drop the gun,” said sheriff’s spokeswoman Karen Hunt.

Another car, which contained foreign exchange students, was also involved in the chase. Its occupants  jumped out of that car and chased the remaining two suspects. The Samaritans eventually pinned those suspects against a fence that surrounds an apartment complex until Whitson arrived.

San Bernardino sheriff’s deputies arrived and arrested all three men for taking a purse from the victim, who was walking home through the store parking lot. A BB gun was recovered while the witnesses and victim identified the suspects.

Harris was arrested and booked at Victor Valley Jail on charges of armed robbery, while Hines was booked on charges of accessory to a crime. The juvenile was taken to Apple Valley Juvenile Detentin Center on charges of armed robbery.

Victorville is located about 60 miles southwest of Los Angeles.