Update: 3 arrested in back-to-back Palo Alto armed robberies, 3rd robbery in Milpitas
PALO ALTO -- Three suspects were arrested Tuesday following three armed robberies Monday evening in Palo Alto and Milpitas, including two within minutes of each other, police said.
The first two robberies happened in the south end of Palo Alto. At around 6:35 p.m. in the 1100 block of Trinity Lane, a resident reported interrupting an auto burglary at his neighbor's home.
One of the suspects pointed a handgun at the neighbor as they fled the scene in a white 2020 Kia Sportage. It was later determined that the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Oakland on Monday morning.
A short time later at 6:57 p.m., the second armed robbery took place in the 800 block of Marshall Drive where the suspects robbed a woman at gunpoint and took her phone.
Preliminary information suggested the same suspects committed both crimes. The suspects were described as both being Black males in their twenties. At least one armed with a handgun. A third suspect, also a Black male, was driving the SUV.
At about 9:14 p.m., police in San Francisco found the suspect vehicle at 7th Street and Stevenson Street and conducted an enforcement stop, detaining the four people in the vehicle without incident. Palo Alto police officers also responded and were able to recover the victims' stolen property from the vehicle and also located a blank pistol.
Multiple other cellphones were found in the vehicle and appear to have been stolen, police said. Investigators determined the same suspects were responsible for another armed robbery in Milpitas later Monday evening.
Three adult suspects - 18-year-old Siahola J'lan Tupouata, 21-year-old Tavita Lauti Fifita, and 19-year-old Curtis Eddie Charles Freeman, all Oakland residents - were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
The fourth person in the suspect car was a 16-year-old boy from Oakland with an outstanding probation violation warrant out of Alameda County. He was taken to Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall on that warrant and investigators were determining if he was connected to any of the robberies.
The adult suspects were booked on the following charges: three counts of robbery, one count of residential burglary, one count of possession of a stolen vehicle, one count of possession of stolen property, and one count of conspiracy. Police also booked suspect Tupouata for one count of assault with a deadly weapon allegedly for pointing the firearm at the male victim in the first robbery.
Anyone with information about these incidents was asked to call the Palo Alto Police Department's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
