Students robbed at gunpoint
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 30, 2003
The Troy Police Department responded to a reported armed robbery in front of Pace Hall at Troy State University at approximately 11:50 p.m. Tuesday night, according to information released by Chief Anthony Everage.
According to TPD Public Affairs Officer Sgt. Benny Scarbrough, TSU police notified the Troy Police Department that an armed robbery had occurred - allegedly conducted by 4 male suspects.
According to reports, three men approached two TSU students in the Pace Hall parking lot Tuesday night. One of the students was in a vehicle and the other was outside the vehicle. One of the suspects, armed with a handgun, demanded money from the students while property was taken from the vehicle.
The three suspects got into a small automobile occupied by a fourth suspect and fled the scene.
TPD third-shift patrol officers conducted a felony stop on a vehicle fitting the description of the one used by the suspects to escape. The vehicle was intercepted at Pell Avenue at Park Street at about 12:25 a.m.
Four male suspects, none of whom were TSU students, occupied the vehicle at the time of the stop. A firearm was recovered from the vehicle and is suspected to be the same firearm used in the robbery. A subsequent investigation led to the recovery of the property of the victim of the robbery and the vehicle burglary.
Three of the men lived in Union Springs and the fourth in Troy. All four taken into custody at the time of the vehicle stop, transported to TPD and booked into the Troy Police Department jail, where they remained Wednesday afternoon.
Two of the suspects are juveniles, one a 14-year-old from Union Springs, and the other a 17-year-old juvenile, who will be charged as an adult. Since the crime is class-A felony armed robbery, police were able to identify the older of the two as Demeatrice Feagin, 17, of Union Springs. Feagin will be tried as an adult.
Also arrested were Alfred Mason, 19, of Union Springs and Billy Greene III, 22, of Troy.
Scarbrough said warrants were signed Wednesday and bond has been set for the three adults at $30,000 each. A petition has been signed in Pike County juvenile court on the 14-year-old.
"Everyone was very pleased with the response of our police department in particular and the cooperation from the City of Troy," said Dave Barron a spokesman for TSU.