Features

Richmond-based robbers 

Police have arrested six Richmond youths in two apparently unrelated Berkeley robberies, one Friday and the second on Sunday. 

In the Friday incident, two strong-arm bandits confronted a 14-year-old Berkeley woman at 1799 Grant St. and robbed her of her iPod. Thanks to a quick response by police, officers were able to find the robbers and recover the stolen music player. The two bandits were taken to Juvenile Hall. 

In the second, and more serious, incident Sunday evening in the 2600 block of Ellsworth Street, a gang of four youths, one armed with a handgun, jumped and pistol-whipped a 22-year-old Berkeley man before robbing him of his wallet and cell phone. 

Though the victim’s glasses were knocked off during the assault, he was able to describe the gang’s getaway car—which an alert officer spotted heading westbound on University Avenue moments later. 

A quick search of the vehicle turned up the stolen property, and after a quick “roll-by” ID by the robbery victim, the four teens were hauled off to Juvenile Hall. 

Their victim was taken to a local emergency room, where he was treated and released later that evening, said Berkeley police spokesperson Officer Ed Galvan. 

Armed heist? 

Two men, one of them professing to have a pistol, convinced a 20-year-old Berkeley man to give up his cash—less than $40—after the pair confronted him at 2429 College Ave. just after 11 a.m. Tuesday. 

Soda heist 

A gang of 10 or so youngsters, possibly students at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, confronted another youth near the corner of University Avenue and Bonar Street and demanded the can of soda he was carrying. 

The youth submitted after one of the gang shoved him, an act that turned a simple act of menacing into a robbery under California law. 

No arrests have been made said Officer Galvan. 

Robbery 

Two men, one possibly in his late teens and the other about 10 years older, shoved a silver handgun at a man near the corner of Bret Harte Road and Keith Avenue at 8:30 Friday night and forced him to hand over his wallet and car keys. 

Officer Galvan said the victim was a Berkeley man in his 30s.