Police: Thrift store armed robbery suspect arrested after firing shot during foot chase
A man wanted for holding up a Twin Cities thrift store at gunpoint was taken into custody Monday after police say he fired a weapon during a foot chase.
The St. Anthony Police Department said Monday Randolph S. Anderson has been arrested in connection with the Jan. 24 robbery at Hidden Treasures.
Anderson, of St. Paul, was charged Friday with first-degree aggravated robbery. The charges allege he brought a few items and a duffel bag to the checkout counter at 2915 Pentagon Drive and, while being rung up, handed the cashier note, demanding money or "people would get shot."
He then drove off in a carjacked pickup truck, authorities said.
Investigators identified the 50-year-old Anderson after he used his rewards card at a nearby Cub Foods, according to the charges.
Read more: Cub Foods rewards account helps ID armed robbery suspect
But Anderson, for a week, had managed to evade arrest.
That changed Monday afternoon when Roseville police were called to a car crash near Snelling Avenue and Skillman Avenue around 12:30 p.m., the department said in a news release. While officers were on the way, they learned the driver who caused the wreck ran off from the scene.
Authorities looked up the abandoned vehicle and found Anderson — who had a warrant out for his arrest and was on federal probation — was the registered owner, according to the Roseville Police Department. That sparked a multi-agency search, with officers from Roseville, St. Anthony and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office called to the scene.
After about 20 minutes, they spotted Anderson on foot along Snelling Avenue near County Road B. The Roseville Police Department said he showed a handgun, then took off running.
Officers chased him to a condominium building on the 1600 block of Highway 36 and told him to surrender, but he instead fired one shot from his pistol (the release does not say where he aimed) then forced his way into the condo through a sliding glass door, according to the department.
Anderson, authorities said, then ran out through the other side of the building, where officers were waiting to grab him. He threw his handgun, which was believed to be stolen, at a squad car and was arrested, the police department said.
Anderson was booked into Hennepin County Jail at 4:31 p.m. He could face additional criminal charges in connection with the crash and chase, according to the Roseville Police Department.
