Police arrested a fourth robbery suspect who caused a Cal State Fullerton lockdown as he and four other suspects fled onto campus after a pawn shop robbery, spurring a six-hour search in several buildings earlier this month.
Roosevelt Andrew Fernandez, 26, of Compton was arrested Wednesday, Dec. 26. and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in downtown Riverside for attempted murder, robbery, parole violation and using a firearm during the Dec. 12 robbery of a pawn shop, according to a press release by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
When the five suspects fled after a car crash in front of CSUF, two fled north onto campus and three fled south. One each of the suspects who fled north and south were quickly arrested, and a second who went south was arrested after a carjacking and a subsequent chase to Los Angeles.
Two suspects were remaining by that night, one who fled south into Fullerton and another who was last seen in Steven G. Mihaylo Hall, leading SWAT to clear the five-story building room-by-room, a procedure that took nearly five hours.
The first wave of nine SWAT officers entered the Mihaylo Hall at 5:23 p.m. that night, eight more came in at 5:30 p.m., and about 20 SWAT officers left the building at 10 p.m. Police confirmed the building had been cleared at 10:17 p.m. as students were allowed to go to a staging area to get their IDs checked.
The statement does not specify if Fernandez was the suspect believed to be have gone south or onto campus.
The investigation is ongoing, headed by Investigator Ed Rose of the Moreno Valley Police Department. Moreno Valley, which partners with Riverside County Sheriff’s, leads the investigation since the robbery occurred in the city.
The sheriff’s statement is here: Attempted Murder/Robbery.
I previously covered the lockdown for the Daily Titan here: Lockdown: Suspects still at large.
I blogged about how I used Twitter to live-tweet the lockdown here: Tweeting the CSUF Lockdown (Part I: Chaos).
tworden 