The Trex Mart convenience store in Dearborn was robbed early Tuesday morning by five people who were later captured in Kansas City, Kan.
The store, located along Hwy. Z just off of Interstate 29, was robbed around 12:55 a.m.
According to Captain Frank Hunter with the Platte County Sheriff’s Department, a lone gunman entered the convenience store and pointed a black semiautomatic weapon at the head of the cashier and demanded the money in the cash register.
The clerk opened the register and the robber took an undisclosed amount of cash and checks. The robber also took the cell phone and another phone in the store before leaving.
The robber then entered a four-door black sedan with four other persons inside and left the scene traveling south on I-29. As the robber was fleeing the scene, a customer vehicle was entering the parking lot.
Hunter said a deputy responding to the robbery call noticed a vehicle southbound on I-29 traveling at a high rate of speed and radioed to Platte City. A Platte City officer then saw the vehicle on I-29 and pursued the vehicle to the 64th Street exit. The vehicle was sometimes traveling over 100 miles per hour.
Platte County deputies caught up with the vehicle at Barry Road and took over the chase; the vehicle then exited at 64th Street and took 45 Highway west.
Hunter said the vehicle continued west through Parkville to I-435.
“They stopped for nothing,” said Hunter.
The vehicle then went south on I-435 and the deputies radioed ahead to Kansas City Kansas Police who responded and put down spike strips near the Leavenworth exit. The vehicle then attempted to exit at Parallel Parkway, but was forced to stop.
According to Hunter, the police arrested the five suspects in the vehicle and found a black semi-automatic weapon matching the one described in the robbery.
Hunter said he was unsure if the suspects live in Kansas City, Kan., but they do have Kansas plates on the vehicle, with expired tags.
It was unclear Wednesday why the robbers chose the Trex Mart in Dearborn as a target.
Charges are expected to be filed on Wednesday afternoon against the five involved. The five were being held at the Wyandotte County Detention Center and were expected to be transferred to the Platte County Detention Center on Wednesday.
The robbery is being investigated by the Platte County Sheriff’s Department and Kansas City Kansas Police.