An 18-year-old taken into custody Friday is the "main suspect" in a series of robberies and stabbings that took place in southeast Arlington this week, police say.
Arlington police Lt. Christopher Cook said Friday afternoon that 18-year-old Osagie Ayanru was identified as a suspect in the aggravated robbery of a 7-Eleven on the 1900 block of Sublett Road on Monday where the clerk was beaten and stabbed.
Cook said surveillance video showed a person walking into the store around noon and then turn around and walk outside. After a customer left, the person then walked back inside, walked behind the counter and demanded all of the money from the register. Cook said the clerk complied and then, without warning, the person began punching, kicking and stabbing the clerk with a large kitchen knife.
Before leaving, Cook said the person kicked the clerk in the head.
At about 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, at the same 7-Eleven, a car was stolen when a woman left her engine running as she went inside the store.
About a half-hour later, a couple out for an evening walk was robbed and attacked not far from the 7-Eleven. In the attack, a man was fatally stabbed and his wife was severely injured.
A short time later, a woman walking her brother's dog was struck by a car and knocked onto the grass. She told police she heard someone yell, "grab her wallet, grab her wallet." The woman was not carrying any personal property; doctors said she survived because she landed on the grass and not the pavement. The dog was killed in the collision.
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Video from a nearby junior high school showed the hit-and-run as well as the vehicle stop and someone get out of the car before returning to the vehicle and driving away.
Cook said the vehicle stolen from the 7-Eleven was recovered on Thursday and that there is damage to the car consistent with a collision.
Cook also said intense media coverage of the homicide led to a tip where someone identified a possible suspect in the attack. Police then showed the clerk a photo lineup and she identified her attacker.
Arlington SWAT executed an arrest warrant Friday morning and took Ayanru into custody without incident. Cook said a search warrant executed at the residence turned up the keys to the stolen car.
Cook said that while there is a lot of corroborating evidence linking the cases together and that they are confident they have their main suspect, investigators are working to gather more information and determine if there are others involved.
Ayanru is currently charged with aggravated assault in the store robbery and motor vehicle theft. It's not clear if he has obtained an attorney.
