Update: Suspect involved in 2012 shooting death of a Milpitas night clerk turned in boyfriend and herself
MILPITAS – Back on Dec 12, the Milpitas Police Department announced that they had captured four homicide suspects linked to a robbery at a local 7-Eleven not far from the Milpitas Police Station. Milpitas police reported that around 2:15 AM on Sept 8, 2012, three African-American male suspects entered the 7-Eleven located at 1496 N. Milpitas Blvd. with the intent to commit robbery. The robbery ended with the night clerk, 67-year-old Mohammad Reza Sadeghzadeh, being shot by one of the juvenile suspects during a confrontation behind the counter where he was working.
A reward had been offered for the capture of the suspects.
19-year-old Warner Travis and 20-year-old Bianca Barrow had been implicated in the shooting death of Sadeghadeh, and two others have also been identified as 18-year-old Delmon Armstead, and Jerry Coneal. Each suspect was shown by the Milpitas Police Dept. in surveillance photos used to help identify the suspects in the robbery/homicide.
The incident began when the three suspects Armstead, Coneal, and Travis entered the business armed with 9mm handguns with the intention of robbing the night clerk. However, during a brief confrontation a shot was fired and the store clerk fell to the ground. In an attempt to gain access to the cash register one of the suspects again fired at the clerk, stepping over him as they ran from the scene. An estimated cash amount of $200.00 is thought to have been taken from the register and surrounding countertop area.
Bianca Barrow and Warner Travis were dating, but she claims to have not known about his criminal associations.
According to a family member, Travis and Barrow had just started dating, and at the time, Bianca Barrow did not know what type of friends or activities Warner Travis had gotten himself into. But she received a call sometime in the evening from Travis asking her to pick them up at the 7-Eleven, where they had asked her to wait while they filled their pockets during the brief visit to the store. It is also suspected that one of the suspects stole a gold chain from the neck of the night clerk. Police are still requesting any information that might lead them to the whereabouts of the missing gold chain.
During the investigation into the shooting, Barrow came forward with information that led police to identify all three suspects involved in the robbery. Barrow turned herself into Milpitas Police and had told her sister she was “aware that they had robbed the store, but she did not know that someone had been killed until she heard it on the news later on.” When she had learned that one of Travis’s friends had shot the clerk, Barrow contacted police. In a yearlong investigation officers with the Menlo Park Police Dept., San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office, and Santa Clara Police Dept., worked with Barrow to help identify and lure Travis back to Menlo Park after he ran to Las Vegas to avoid capture. The Milpitas police deptartment and 7-Eleven Corp. together offered a twenty-thousand dollar reward.
Jerry Coneal and Delmon Armstead were arrested along with Travis for the shooting and robbery.
At the hearing, Barrow’s sister and father joined together with other relatives of the four young adults now facing possible life sentences for the senseless death of Sadeghzadeh. Each defendant appeared in Dept. 23 in the Hall of Justice in San Jose in front of the Honorable Ronald C. Toff. Each was assigned an attorney under the Independent District Attorneys Office, or IDO. Ms. Barrow has two small children ages 5-months and 3-years. Her sister hopes that she can be released before having to face trial for her involvement with the trio. Each defendant waived their rights as formal proceedings denied bail for each suspect, who are currently being held in the Santa Clara County Main Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing set for Feb 6, 2013 at 1:30 PM in Dept. 23.
Read More:
CrimeVoice: Milpitas arrest fourth suspect in 2012 murder of a 7-Eleven employee
Photos: Amy Nilson, Milpitas PD, Santa Clara Sheriff
