KUSA — ARAPAHOE COUNTY - Six people have been arrested and charged in connection to several armed robberies, including one that involved pistol whipping employees at a Glendale PetSmart while money was stolen from the store’s safe.
The investigation into the string of robberies and attempted robberies that spanned Jan. 13 to Feb. 28 required help from the FBI Denver Division’s Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force, according to the arrest affidavit for one of the six suspects.
Of the six people arrested, most are in jail, all have been charged and each of them participated in one or more of the six incidents.
The first robbery was on Jan. 13, when several suspects forced two Glendale PetSmart employees to open the store’s safe at gunpoint, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by 9NEWS.
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“I’m pretty sure I was hit in the face,” the affidavit says one of the victims told police. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast. I was working and we got ambushed. I’m not quite sure how it all went down, it happened so fast.”
The second employee and victim told police he came to work around 5 a.m., unlocked the front door and was confronted by robbers.
Court records say the victim told police the robbers forced him and the second employee into the office to open the safe.
Both suffered repeated blows to the head and face, records say.
“Before (the victim) has an opportunity to open the safe, one of the robbers violently punches her in the face, knocking the back of her head into the wall,” the affidavit said.
Court records say the victim was repeatedly assaulted as she was just sitting in the office while the robbers took money from the safe.
9NEWS obtained five of the six mug shots for the suspects, because one of them is under 18.
Gabrielle Castillo, Azhaunte Forrest, Savon Lawson, Tavion Chiles, Gregory Goree, Frankie Chiles are all facing a number of charges in connection to the crime spree. Those include aggravated robbery, kidnapping and felony menacing.
Court records say on Jan. 31, several of the defendants hit a Party City store across the street from the Aurora Mall.
That victim told police the robbers pushed their way into the store, assaulted him, forced him to open the safe and took the money.
The third attack took place Feb. 12 at the O’Reilly Auto Parts store on Havana Street in Aurora. Court records say the robbers put the gun to a store clerk’s face and took money from a safe that was open, they also took her purse and phone.
The next day, the robbers attempted to take money from an Advanced Auto Parts store also on Havana, but couldn’t get inside, the court record said.
On Feb. 19, the suspects are accused of stealing money from a PetSmart on Parker Road. The court document said the suspects operated the same way as in other attacks, waiting until an employee opened the door first thing in the morning and then forcing their way in. In this case, several thousand dollars were stolen, according to the report.
The last time the robbers had a plan to steal money from a business was Feb. 28. That morning police got a report of suspicious persons, responded and took several suspects into custody. According to court records, one of the suspects told police the group was in place to rob a Petsmart on Gatrell Road.
According to court records, some of the defendants have criminal histories and are known gang members.
Many of the attacks have been captured on surveillance video at different businesses.
