A fourth suspect in a Moreno Valley armed robbery that led to a three-county pursuit and lockdown of the campus of Cal State Fullerton was in custody Thursday.
Roosevelt Andrew Fernandez, 26, of Compton was arrested Wednesday afternoon after he was identified as one of the alleged bandits involved in a Dec. 12 robbery at Empire Jewelry and Loan.
Three other suspects – Los Angeles residents Jerome Bernard Allen, 23, Damine Lavonte Banks, 30, and Traevon Cortez Vidaud, 24 – were arrested after a freeway chase that followed the shooting of an unidentified employee at the Inland Empire pawn shop.
Fernandez, pictured at right, was located in Long Beach and arrested without incident, according to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, which did not disclose how he was linked to the crime.
Fernandez was booked into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside on suspicion of attempted murder, robbery, conspiracy, gang association and parole violations.
The other three suspects are slated to be arraigned at the Riverside Hall of Justice on Jan. 3.
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The incident started when four masked men armed with small-caliber pistols burst into the pawn shop at midday, breaking into display cases, stealing merchandise and shooting a clerk four times before fleeing in a Lexus driven by a fifth suspect.
California Highway Patrol officers spotted the car fleeing west on the Moreno Valley (60) Freeway. The pursuit reached speeds of 100 mph.
Making their way south on the Orange (57) Freeway, the robbers exited in Fullerton. Their car was involved in a minor crash, and the men fled in different directions.
Allen and Banks allegedly fled on foot and were arrested in the university are, but two other men fled across the campus and sought to blend into the student crowd.
Vidaud allegedly carjacked a motorist nearby, stealing a silver compact car, triggering a high-speed 20-minute chase that went west onto the Artesia (91) Freeway. Reaching Compton, Vidaud allegedly plowed through multiple intersections before pulling into the Imperial Courts Recreation Center in Watts and running onto an athletic field, where he was arrested.
Meanwhile, at California State University, Fullerton, an estimated 10,000 people, mostly students, were stranded on the campus for more than seven hours as authorities searched for the two outstanding suspects.
Authorities have not named a fifth suspect.
