Customer shot at; helps nab fleeing robbers

The Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that a restaurant customer is being called a hero for assisting police in apprehending three suspects who authorities think may be responsible for as many 20 recent armed robberies.

"It was a great example of citizen involvement," Sgt. Roger Robbins of the Cincinnati Police Department's Robbery Task Force said Tuesday.

According to the story, two masked men with black handguns went into the McDonald's on Calhoun Street just after midnight. They took money and fled in a car, police said.

A customer in his car in the drive-through lane followed the robbers' car and used a cell phone to alert police to its whereabouts, Robbins told the Enquirer.

The three suspects in the fleeing Hyundai Elantra abandoned the car on Mulberry Street in Mount Auburn and fled on foot, but were captured on Hunt Alley in Over-the-Rhine with the assistance of a police canine.

Before abandoning the car, one of the suspects fired a shot in the direction of the customer.

The bullet struck the customer's vehicle, but did not hit him, Perkins was quoted as saying. The customer did not wish to be identified.

The Enquirer says police charged Germaine Johnson, 29, of Golf Manor, and two boys, ages 15 and 17, with aggravated robbery. The 17-year-old was also charged with felonious assault in the firing of a gun at the car containing the McDonald's customer.

Robbins told the newspaper the trio is suspected in at least 20 recent armed robberies - including street robberies, home invasions and bank robberies.

The Enquirer reported that the Hyundai Elantra used in the McDonald's robbery was stolen at gunpoint Monday afternoon on Carplin Street in Avondale. The police report says two men pointed guns at the woman driver and a witness, then took the car.