School Placed On Lockdown While Suspects Were Arrested
SALINAS—You know you have been writing a lot of crime stories when they start coming to you. I have been a reporter for CrimeVoice – United Reporting Crime Beat News for three years now, and in that time I have never had stories come to me – until yesterday when three suspects were arrested right down the street from my house.
Shortly before noon on Wednesday, May 27, I heard the familiar sound of a high-speed police cruiser pass my house. It seemed that three robbery suspects were being pursued by police when they decided to turn down my street to avoid capture. Wrong move – two other police cruisers were positioned at the other end of the street, blocking it.
The Scorpio Imports shop is in this East Laurel shopping center near CVS.
It seems that earlier that morning, two suspects, a 16-year-old juvenile and 18-year-old Xavier Reyes entered the Scorpio Imports smoke shop at 130 East Laurel Drive armed with a replica semi-automatic firearm and approached the cashier, demanding money. The cashier, believing that the gun was real, handed over an undetermined amount of cash.
Before leaving the business, the suspects stole several glass smoking devices and t-shirts. When they left, the two got into a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Joseph Viloria and sped away.
Several witnesses provided police with important suspect and vehicle information. A Salinas Police Officer was on patrol in the area when he spotted the suspects’ vehicle near the intersection of Linwood Drive and Chaparral Street. He pursued the vehicle until it was cornered, and the driver pulled into a driveway on Modoc Avenue. Natividad Elementary School, which is directly across from where the vehicle was stopped, was placed on lockdown.
All three suspects were pulled out of the vehicle at gunpoint and taken into custody without further incident. The cash and the stolen products were returned to the business.
