COLONIE, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Officials shared new details about the violent robbery that happened one Saturday afternoon late last month in a sporting goods store. The police chief held a press conference that outlined the suspects’ connection to another similar crime.
Colonie Town Supervisor Peter Crummey and Police Chief James Gerace praised members of the community who shared information that led to several felony arrests in that violent robbery at Dick’s House of Sport in Latham.
Suspects robbed a father and son, hitting the victims with baseball bats and stealing Air Jordan sneakers. Just one pair valued at $215. Police said they stole an adult pair and an infant pair.
As chaos unfolded inside the store, on August 24, a witness had maintained distance and provided vital information that led to the swift arrest of the first suspect, 19-year-old Kyle Fowlkes – who went back to the scene of the crime to look for his cell phone.
Fowlkes was charged with robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon. 21-year-old Lyric Jones was arrested on the same charges. Angadi Jones is in Albany County Jail, on a separate unrelated charge, and will be arraigned on Wednesday evening.
Police want the public’s help locating a fourth suspect, Kendryek Flynn. However, he is expected to turn himself in on Wednesday evening. There’s also a juvenile suspect, who police are not naming because he is a minor.
Crummey said the five suspects showed no remorse and touted the violent acts on social media.
“Why do these young defendants display depraved indifference to human life, not only to themselves but to all others,” said Crummey.
Police said some of the same suspects were also involved in a prior incident. Another violent attempted robbery at a park on Frederick Avenue, allegedly over sneakers, just days before the incident at Dick’s.
Individuals in two cars met at the park for a Facebook Marketplace sale, on August 14, and when things went wrong, a shot was fired. Those individuals did not call the police.
It was a citizen who reported seeing one of the vehicles involved toss an object into a wooded area. Police found a loaded handgun there.
Later, they received another report of a person looking around that same area. That’s when they arrested a 15-year-old, who police said was riding in a car with Lyric. He was later arrested for the Dick’s robbery and will appear in family court on those charges. It remains unclear what court he will appear in for allegedly looking for that loaded gun.
“I am baffled. I am disappointed. I’m baffled, like probably all of you are, that people would be that brazen to commit these acts that they’d be willing to shoot and strike people with baseball bats over shoes,” said Gerace.
The August 14 incident led investigators to a house where they recovered another gun, a Smith & Wesson. They traced its origins and found it was trafficked from North Carolina. They also found marijuana and money on the property and have opened a federal investigation.
Officials said public information has been paramount in investigating the matters.
“But the pride that we share in the residents and the citizens that also live here, the citizens who stood up and said no, no way violent crime in their town,” said Gerace. Crummey echoed those concerns.
“From civilians and town residents, we received valuable information about the descriptions of vehicles, plate numbers, and even observations of actions of the occupants of the vehicles,” said Crummey.
