The following is a press release from the Pierce County Prosecutor. Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Monday Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist charged Kashif B. Oyeniyi, 26, with Robbery in the First Degree, and Obstructing a Law Enforcement Officer. The defendant was arrested after Tacoma Police Department officers connected him to a Saturday night convenience store robbery. The store clerk told the officers that the robber pointed a black handgun in his face and then took the entire cash register out the door.

“This was great police work by the Tacoma Police Department,” Lindquist. “Their hard work put a quick end to a string of robberies before anyone was seriously hurt.”

On June 15, 2013, at about 8:30 pm, Tacoma Police received a call about a robbery. Officers responded to the Beer, Smoke and More shop on 6th Avenue, and the clerk told them that a man came into the store and looked around. He described the man as black, 6′ 4″, thin build, in his thirties, and wearing a dark shirt and jeans. The clerk said the suspect pointed a black semi-automatic handgun in his face and then grabbed the cash register and ran out the door with it. He said that there was about $1500 in cash and coin in the register when it was stolen. Officers were able to watch the store’s security video and noted it was consistent with the clerk’s description of events.

Officers were not able to download the video, but one was able to take pictures of it with his cell phone. Those pictures were emailed to other Tacoma Police Department officers, two of whom recognized the defendant from prior contacts and arrests.

Witnesses described the vehicle leaving the scene to the officers and shortly after 11:00 pm another Tacoma Police officer observed a similar car near the intersection of South 19th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Way. The officers stopped the car and the defendant bailed out of the passenger seat, and fled. About two hours later the defendant was spotted walking in the neighborhood. When told to stop, he again fled. The defendant ran into an alley, then into a house, out the second story window of the house and down the street. Officers finally were able to catch the defendant near 6th Street and Yakima Avenue.

The defendant is a suspect in other robberies that occurred in the same area of Tacoma, but those investigations are ongoing. The defendant was arraigned today in Pierce County Superior Court. He pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $250,000.

Charges are only allegations and a person is presumed innocent unless he or she is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

For more information, please contact John Sheeran at (253) 798-6511, Jsheera@co.pierce.wa.us