Teen Arrested In Palo Alto After Carjacking Connected To Robbery

PALO ALTO, CA — A 16-year-old suspect who Palo Alto police arrested on Saturday following a pursuit after a carjacking was also suspected of committing a robbery in downtown Palo Alto the previous night, according to police.

Police took the teenager into custody just after midnight on Sunday with the help of a canine. Officers chased him northbound on East Bayshore Road after spotting a 2008 BMW sedan that had been carjacked the night before in East Palo Alto. The vehicle “failed to yield,” police said, and led police on a chase before stopping on Clarke Avenue in East Palo Alto, at which point five occupants fled on foot. The driver was apprehended on a pedestrian bridge but the other four suspects got away.

The driver matched the description of a suspect who robbed a woman on Friday night on High Street, according to police. A credit card stolen from the victim was used at the Shell gas station on University Avenue shortly after the crime. Police said that surveillance footage from the gas station showed the suspect, matching the description provided by the victim, using the credit card.

The suspect was booked to Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall and charged with three felonies, including robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and evading arrest.