Warwick Elementary School
FREMONT – Three men have been arrested and a woman suspect is still being sought by police in connection with an armed robbery at the Warwick Elementary School, which culminated in an emergency lockdown of four local schools.
Fremont residents Nicholas Harville, 24, Michael B. Topper, 28, and Rudy A. Garcia, 22, were each taken into custody, after a woman was robbed of her purse at gunpoint on the school campus. Three of the suspects were taken to Santa Rita Jail.
An officer responding to the robbery on October 7 located four suspects in a vehicle nearby, before they attempted a getaway, crashed the vehicle and then fled on foot.
A handgun was recovered from inside the abandoned vehicle. Police are investigating whether it was the same gun used during the robbery, because the victim who was robbed described seeing a slightly different weapon, said Fremont police spokesperson Geneva Bosques.
Two men were apprehended shortly after the robbery and a third was captured hours later hiding in the same residential Sundale neighborhood.
While police were conducting a search for the suspects whom they considered armed and dangerous, temporary shelter-in-place orders were issued for the Warwick school, in addition to schools located within five miles: John F. Kennedy High School, Brier Elementary School and Walters Junior High School.
Harville has been charged with robbery, outstanding warrants, hit and run resulting in injury, felony possession of a firearm, possessing a controlled substance, being under the influence of a controlled substance, battery, second degree burglary, petty theft and possession of an injection device. No bail was set.
Topper has been charged with hit and run resulting in injury, probation violation, felony possession of a firearm, robbery, possession of an injection device, possession of a controlled substance, buying or receiving of stolen property, unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, driving while license is suspended or revoked, possession of prohibited ammunition, corpus conversion, possession of metal knuckles, carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle, possession of a firearm and using a firearm. His bail has been set at $170,000.
Garcia has been charged with hit and run resulting in injury, felony possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of prohibited ammunition, receiving stolen property, probation violation, unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, receiving stolen property-vehicle, fraudulent possession of personal information, assault upon a police officer and driving under the influence of alcohol. His bail has been set at $122,000.
The still at-large woman suspect has not been identified
