Two men are in custody after an armed robbery led to one of the suspects running onto the property of a school in West Palm Beach.
A West Palm Beach Police Department (WPBPD) spokesperson confirmed officers responded late Thursday morning to a call about someone who was robbed.
Shortly afterward, an officer reported seeing the suspect’s car. According to police, the driver car crashed near Roosevelt Middle School.
One of the men in the car jumped out and ran toward school, in the 1900 on North Australian Avenue. He tried hopping a gate before being captured by officers, WPBPD spokesperson Mike Jachles explained.
Two women and another man were still in the car at the time of the stop, Jachles continued, and they were also taken into custody.
Jachles held a news conference later in the evening after gathering all the details from the incident.
Jachles stated just after 11 a.m., police received a call reporting an armed robbery at an apartment complex at the Lake Shore apartments on North Congress Avenue. When officers arrived, they found a 34-year-old man had been robbed at gunpoint and were told the suspects fled in a red Volkswagon.
According to detectives, the suspects knew the victim. They demanded his cell phone and when he asked for it back they did not give it to him. Instead, one of the suspects pulled out an assault-style rifle on the victim. The victim ran and the suspects fled in the car.
The car was seen on 2200 North Australian Avenue at the Uptown 22 Apartments by officers on patrol. When the suspects saw the officers in the area they took off. Police said there was no pursuit because as they drove off at a high speed they crashed into a light pole by Roosevelt Middle School. Four people were in the car, two men and two women.
The driver, 24-year-old Gordon Herisse, from West Palm Beach, bailed out of the car and ran toward the school parking lot, dropping the ski mask he was wearing. Herisse jumped over a secured gate into the courtyard of the school where he was quickly apprehended by WPBPD officers.
Police said Herisse did not have a gun or any weapons on him when he was apprehended on campus, but a rifle that was reported stolen was recovered at the crash site and a handgun was found inside the car after a search warrant was executed. Jachles said Herisse was taken into custody.
The school was placed on a brief lockdown while police did a complete sweep of the campus to ensure there were no weapons recovered on school property.
The second suspect, 24-year-old Jonas Lockhart, was knocked unconscious from the impact of the crash. Jachles said he was apprehended at the crash site. The two women inside the car were also detained.
Herisse, Lockhart, and the two women in the car were taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center by fire rescue where they were treated for minor injuries.
Jachles said Herisse and Lockhart have been arrested in the past on felony charges.
WPBPD said Herisse was charged with robbery with a firearm, leaving the scene of a crash, resisting arrest, burglary of an occupied structure, and felon in possession of a firearm. His latest release from prison was in March of 2023. His previous charges were cocaine trafficking.
Lockhart’s charges are being a felon in possession of a firearm and robbery with a firearm. Lockhart was recently released from jail on Christmas Eve in 2023 in a case where he was fleeing West Palm Beach officers. He was also released in February of 2023, for resisting arrest, robbery with a firearm, and felon in possession of a firearm.
Police said the women are not currently facing any charges and were released. The investigation remains ongoing, police said.
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Source: cbs12
