4 teens arrested after Chinese restaurant delivery woman slain
WATERBURY, Conn. -- Police say four teens are in custody after a woman delivering Chinese food in Connecticut was shot and killed during a robbery.
Waterbury police say the attack was reported at around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Responding officers found a man and a woman injured. Police say the two worked for a Chinese restaurant and had been robbed while making a delivery.
The man had been assaulted, and the woman had been shot in the neck.
The woman was identified as 59-year-old Helena Vargas. She died at a hospital.
The injured man was identified as 61-year-old Rolando Alvarez.
“The guy ran up on me quick and he pushed my face away...The guy told me give him the money and the phone,” Alvarez told CBS affiliate WFSB. “The second guy ran over to Helena who was sitting in the car. I could not see what was going on but I heard her say ‘Papi’ and then heard two gun shots.”
Police made four arrests Wednesday morning. The suspects are 19-year-old Anthony Wright, a 16-year-old boy, a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old girl. All four were charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, the station reports.
WFSB reports Vargas was a mother and a grandmother. She was the sister of the woman who owned the restaurant where she worked, the Golden Wok, and had been employed there for 20 years. Employees there reportedly use a “buddy” system when making deliveries at nighttime.
“I certainly don’t think there was anything the restaurant or the poor people trying to make a living could have done, outside of the ordinary to protect themselves,” Waterbury Deputy Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo told the station.
Wright was arraigned in court on Wednesday and ordered held on $2.5 million bond. Prosecutors say he is a known member of the “Crips” gang.
“This was an extremely vicious and unnecessary robbery,” State’s Attorney Maureen Platt said, according to the station. “An innocent woman was killed.”