COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two suspects were killed and two others, including a 17-year-old, were arrested by Columbus police during a robbery at a South Side grocery store Friday night, a police spokesman said.
SWAT officers staking out the Dollar General store at Alum Creek Drive and Thimbleberry Road saw two armed men run into store just before 8:45 p.m., spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
After the two men held employees and customers at gunpoint and left with an undisclosed amount of cash, Weiner says Officers John Holloway and Anthony Rogers followed them to the corner of Thimbleberry and Greenery Drive where the suspects tried to get away in a car with two other men.
Two of the suspects were killed by the officers when they converged on the car and tried to take them into custody, Weiner said. The other two, identified as Aarin Clinkscale, 20, and Savon Dearmond, 17, were arrested with no injuries.
Investigators are still trying to figure out if the suspects who were shot were in the vehicle or outside of the vehicle at the time, Weiner said.
Their names are being withheld pending family notification Weiner said.
Two handguns were recovered at the scene, Weiner says, and detectives are still processing evidence and were awaiting a warrant to the suspects’ car Saturday night.
Clinkscale is charged with robbery, Dearmond is charged with robbery and two counts of murder and additional charges are pending, Weiner said.
Holloway is a 23-year veteran of the police division assigned to the SWAT unit and Rogers is a 24-year veteran assigned to the K-9 Unit, Weiner says.
This is the seventh Columbus police involved shooting of 2014 and will be investigated by the Critical Incident Response Team made up of specially trained investigators from the Homicide Units, Weiner said.