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Bystander Helps Cops Nab Suspects Of Metro Robberies

By James Schugel, WCCO-TV

NEW BRIGHTON (WCCO) -- Thanks to the quick thinking of a bystander, two men suspected of robbing several stores in the Twin Cities are now locked up.

Cameras caught the dramatic action at the EZ Stop Convenience Store in New Brighton.

The clerk, who had been held up before in the store, was sweeping near the front door a few weeks ago when the robber barged in through the front door. He showed her his gun, a semi-automatic handgun with a magazine inside, according to investigators.

He pulled the woman, who was alone and incredibly scared, towards the cash register.

"She was very frightened. We tried to calm her down and we eventually did," said officer Dustin Bengston with the New Brighton Police Department.

After being in the store less than a minute, the robber got away with some cash, but didn't get far.

Someone who lives in the neighborhood and just a few blocks from the store noticed a white Suburban SUV. It was driving through the area with its lights off and it seemed suspicious, so this person called police.

Bengston responded.

"I observed a male wearing all black, running into the passenger side of the vehicle, and, at that point, I knew something wasn't right," he said.

According to police, the vehicle Theodore Collins was driving was filled with cash, a handgun and a pile of clothes, which were the same things used and taken in that robbery. Terry Roberts, who was also in the vehicle, actually robbed the store, police said.

In fact, detectives think the pair robbed other places in the Twin Cities, including a restaurant, a motel, an auto parts store and maybe even more places.

Collins and Roberts are currently in the Ramsey County Jail.

Roberts is expected to be charged with first-degree aggravated robbery.

"I'm sure they would have kept doing this, hadn't they been caught," Officer Bengston said.

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