Police Capture Suspect Seven Minutes After Grocery Holdup

Fast police work today resulted in the arrest of a robbery suspect seven minutes after the robbery of the Git-N-Go Store at 3549 S. Harvard Ave.

Detective Gary glanz said today he heard a robbery report broadcast by the police dispatcher at 12:13 a.m. and stopped a man identified as Gary Wayne Braynt, 21, of 4507 S. Peoria Ave., at 12:20 a.m.

Glanz said Bryant admitted the hijacking after being identified in a police lineup by witnesses. Glanz said Bryant also admitted the hijacking of the Git-N-Go Store at Fifth Street and Lewis Avenue last week.

The arrest was the third of the weekend in grocery robberies. The first arrest came Friday afternoon minutes after two gunmen held up the Safeway Store at pine Street and Sheridan Road. Police said today they will present information to the county attorney’s office asking an armed robbery charge be filed against Quinion Roy Lee, 17, of 224 N. Frisco Ave.

Another man was arrested Sunday for questioning in connection with the armed robbery of the Humpty Dumpty Food Store at 585 E. 36th St. N. The robbery occurred Sunday morning.

Detective Sgt. Wayne Edmunds said Robert Lee Minchew, 27, of Algiers, La., was viewed in a lineup Sunday and identified as one of two bandits who held up the Humpty Dumpty at 8:30 a.m. Sunday and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

Glanz said he noticed Bryant, fitting the description of the bandit in today’s robbery, and stopped his car. He said Patrol Officer Chuck Hodges, who backed Glanz in the arrest, found a sack containing about $300 and a .25-caliber automatic pistol in Bryant’s car.

Edmunds called the Safeway robbery a "comedy of errors." Edmunds said the hijackers entered the store, walked up to Viola Collins, store checker, and demanded money, but she replied: "I just cash checks -- you’ll have to see the manager for that."

Edmunds said the gunman went after the manager and in the meantime the checker stuffed larger bills in a wastebasket so the robbers wouldn’t find them.

The bandits almost missed making a getaway, according to Edmunds, when the first tried to go out the wrong door. They made it on the second attempt but lost part of the money when a hole was torn in a paper bag they used to hold the loot.

Adding to the confusion, police had been notified Friday morning of a possible robbery attempt and had towed in a stolen car, which apparently was to be the second getaway car. The car had been found parked in the 6200 block of East Pine Street.

Edmunds said Leigh was found hiding under a church at 6212 E. Pine St., and identified by a former Safeway employee as the man who had jumped out of the first getaway car in the 6200 block of East Pine St. after the robbery. The other suspect fled on foot.

Police said the Humpty Dumpty holdup also had its miscues. Detectives Dave Pilkington and Lyle Washburn said the two gunmen tried to enter the wrong door and one of the gunmen received a black eye when he bounced off the out door. Washburn said the gunmen ran to the other door and went inside, taking cash from the check stands.

Minchew was picked up in Sand Springs Sunday afternoon by Tulsa and Sand Springs officers after an all-day investigation. Police said fingerprints found at the store are being checked in an attempt to identify the second bandit.