BERKELEY—A masked man seen running through a parking lot looked conspicuous enough to get himself arrested—after a downtown business reported being robbed by a masked gunman. The sprinting suspect was spotted by a patrol police officer passing by the Touchless Car Wash located at 2176 Kittredge Street, ne ar the scene of a robbery that occurred January 15 on the 2200 block of Fulton Street.
Police received a report at 12:05 p.m. from a victim robbed of notebook computer, and the description of the suspect’s attire, location and timing was instrumental in the robber’s quick arrest.
The patrol officer saw the suspicious runner attempting to hide what appeared to be a pistol in his waistband, began chasing after him and radioed for assistance from more officers.
As the chase gained momentum, a police dispatcher broadcast a description of apparently the same suspect, who only minutes ago fled from a nearby robbery.
Officers finally stopped the masked runner on the 2100 block of Shattuck Avenue, near Addison Street. The Oakland resident, 20-year-old London T. Gix, was detained, unmasked and arrested there, without further incident.
Turns out the pistol in the suspect’s possession was an air pistol that shoots relatively harmless plastic pellets for sport, but the victim mistakenly believed it was a lethal weapon.
Gix was booked at Berkeley City Jail at 1:47 p.m., held in lieu of $125,000 bail. He’s charged with first degree robbery, receiving stolen property, possession of burglary tools, and wearing a mask for an unlawful purpose.
