Several recent restaurant delivery orders around the Buckhead and Virginia-Highland areas have come with a side of armed robbery, unbeknownst to the delivery app’s customers, according to police reports. After making deliveries, Atlanta police believe, the driver and three others would search for an opportunity to rob someone at gunpoint.
Four people, three of them minors, have been charged following eight armed robberies that began Thursday in the Buckhead and Virginia-Highland areas, according to Atlanta police.
A 21-year-old man, 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were taken into custody Monday after police located a car stolen earlier that day along with a car thought to have been used in other armed robberies, Atlanta police spokesman Sgt. Jarius Daugherty said. Police have not released the identity of the 21-year-old suspect.
The two younger suspects were captured without incident and multiple guns were recovered, according to Sgt. Rodney Jones of the Atlanta Police Department’s robbery unit. An arrest warrant has been issued for a 15-year-old boy believed to have participated in the robberies, Jones said.
APD’s robbery unit began investigating after determining several incidents between Thursday and Sunday involved he same suspects, Jones said. Investigators found that one suspect was working for a food delivery company, and others would commit crimes of opportunity as they ferried deliveries from restaurants to customers. No one was injured.
“After the food was delivered, they would search the area to rob other individuals,” Jones said. “After they would rob someone at that location, they would deliver food to another location. After that food had been delivered, they would rob in that area as well.”
On Monday, officers responded to reports of a carjacking on Northside Drive that involved a silver 2018 Nissan sedan with Florida plates, a description that matched the car involved in multiple other robberies.
According to the initial investigation, the man who was carjacked was driving for Uber and tried to pick up a customer at a home on Northside Drive. A man standing in the home’s driveway told the driver that he had not called for a ride.
The driver told police he was then confronted by two men, one of whom had a handgun, as he tried to back out of the driveway. The men ordered him out of his car, a Chevrolet Malibu, then got in and drove away.
Later the same day, officers located both cars after tracking the Malibu, which is owned by the Hertz rental car company, Daugherty said. Multiple officers responded to the scene to help take the suspects into custody.
Police believe the same suspects committed at least seven other robberies in Buckhead and elsewhere in northeast Atlanta. Two cars were carjacked and multiple wallets and other personal items were stolen during the five-day spree. Jones said investigators had identified 11 victims.
Police would not say which food delivery company the suspects used, although Jones said no delivery customers were victims of a robbery. According to Jones, the suspects chose targets at random based on who was in the area of their last food delivery. Victims were not targeted for any reason beyond location and opportunity.
In a press briefing, Jones offered advice for Atlantans wary that they could be victims of similar crimes.
“Be alert,” Jones said. “And don’t walk alone at night.”
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