Portage police arrest armed robber

PORTAGE, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3)- Portage Police Department say William Eugene-Russell Brooks and another guy robbed a man at Foxwood Apartments duct taping his eyes shut.  They arrested Brooks Wednesday night.  He's charged with armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and filing a false police report. 

They thought this guy might be a victim.  Police say Brooks was a loose acquaintance of the victim.  On Monday Brooks called him up saying he had to see him.  The victim picked up Brooks in his car and when the two were at Foxwood Apartments a gunman jumped in the car robbing the driver. 

The gunman ran off by himself and both Brooks and the victim reported the incident to police. The armed robbery at Foxwood Apartments on Monday caught the attention of many including tenants like Maria Drake.

"You know of course this is overall a pretty safe place so it startled me a little bit," said resident Maria Drake.

What's startling to police is the number of armed robberies in recent weeks. 

"It's kind of an oddity that we get that many in that short of time," said Lt. Steven Clark of Portage Police.

Lt. Steven Clark says there is hope those behind all the robberies will be arrested thanks to the arrest of Brooks. In the Foxwood robbery Brooks originally claimed to be a victim, which made sense because he was a passenger in the victim's car.

"The more we were able to investigate it the more we realized it didn't look like he was a victim," said Lt Clark.

Clark says one red flag is the way Brooks was treated by the gunman. 

"The driver was duct taped and the gun was pressed to the driver's head and the passenger didn't have that same treatment," said Lt. Clark.

Another was inconsistencies with what Brooks says was stolen from him.

 "He said one item was stolen but then when we saw him and spoke with him that item was in his possession at the time," said Lt. Clark.

Police say there are now three more robbery suspects which means arrests could be made soon but for Drake and many others it also means there are three more suspected robbers on the loose.

"Kind of opens your eyes to the fact that there's lots of things going on in this area to be cautious of," said Drake.

Police have identified three more suspects in Foxwood robbery and police are still investigating to determine if they were involved in up to six other robberies in the Kalamazoo area. 

If you have any information to aid the investigation please call Portage Police or Silent Observer.