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Police say thieves pepper-sprayed their victims in KCMO street robberies

Posted at 5:53 PM, Aug 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-12 19:31:45-04

Police negotiated with a group of suspects overnight Friday who they say terrorized people in a string of robberies using pepper-spray.

The suspects were described as two juvenile males, one juvenile female and 1 adult male, according to KCPD spokesperson Captain Stacey Graves.

The crime spree began in northeast Kansas City at 1:11 p.m. where police said the suspects stole a white minivan near Budd Park 

They drove to the River Market where the suspects pepper-sprayed a person at Missouri and Holmes five hours later.

Minutes later at 6:14 p.m. at 5th and Oak, the group of alleged thieves pepper-sprayed a woman’s eyes, pulled her ponytail and kicked her in the face before taking off with her purse and cellphone.

Police said the suspects committed a similar robbery around the corner at 5th and Cherry. 

The suspects sped down to the Plaza where police said they attacked a woman near the iconic fountain at 6:43 p.m.

Solomon Gillis works at 41 Action News and was one of five people who helped the distraught victim.

“She was crying she was saying, ‘Help me! Help me! It burns so bad it burns so bad and we just tried to stop the burning,’” Gillis said. 

The thieves moved onto Waldo where police said they pepper-sprayed a woman and then stole her dog.

Police said there may be other victims like Malik Stanford. He said a similar thing happened to him at 10th and Wyandotte as he was walking home around 5 p.m.

“I just didn’t see it coming at all it looked like a lost girl trying to find where she was going and I didn’t expect get pepper-sprayed in the face,” Stanford said.

41 Action News caught up with Sanford as he was heading to file his police report.

“It was pretty terrifying feeling so helpless in the middle of downtown and alone,” Stanford said. 

Patrol officers located the stolen van at 7:49 p.m., which refused to stop. The suspects wrecked at 71st Street and Askew Avenue where police arrested one of the suspects and recovered the victim’s dog unharmed.

The other suspects ran to a house close by and gave themselves up at 1:45 a.m. Friday.

“I’m glad that they have been caught and I hope they get what’s coming to them,” Stanford said. 

A spokesperson with the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office said they anticipate receiving one of the cases Friday evening. 

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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com

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