Cheers! One Less Robbing Monkee Scumbag! Newsday.com: Deputies Shoot Man Sought in Robberies

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Newsday.com: Deputies Shoot Man Sought in Robberies: "Deputies Shoot Man Sought in Robberies


By Associated Press

July 21, 2005, 2:58 PM EDT

TORRANCE, Calif. -- A serial robbery suspect who sported a tattoo saying 'Blue eyed Devil' was shot to death by police after he allegedly assaulted a deputy, carjacked an SUV and held up a pet store.

Robert Craig, 36, was shot after a brief chase that ended when he crashed the car and ran into an auto recycling yard, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.


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Craig, who had been released from prison in March, was suspected in two Orange County robberies on Saturday and matched the description of a man suspected in at least 14 robberies in Los Angeles County.

Wednesday's pursuit began when a sheriff's deputy questioned Craig outside a motel when he was loading items into a car. The deputy recognized a tattoo on Craig's neck reading 'Blue eyed Devil' -- matching one seen in videotaped footage of at least one robbery.

The deputy went to call for backup but a struggle broke out and Craig wrestled the deputy to the ground before running away, said sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino.

Craig jumped a wall and headed toward a restaurant, where he held a knife to the throat of an elderly man and attempted unsuccessfully to carjack his vehicle before commandeering an SUV, officials said.

'A female accomplice tried to get in the passenger's side and was tackled by a witness,' Amormino said.

Soon after, Craig allegedly robbed a pet store in Mission Viejo. About five hours later, he showed up at an undisclosed location near Torrance where undercover officers were waiting.

He sped off, leading police on a brief high-speed chase before crashing and running through an auto recycling plant, where Torrance police confronted him and he was killed, authorities said.

Authorities who searched Craig's car and motel room found two loaded guns, stolen license plates, methamphetamine and a pit bull, Amormino said.

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