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Posted on Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 10:29 a.m.

Pizza delivery driver robbed at gunpoint in Ann Arbor becomes fourth robbery victim in a week

By Kyle Feldscher

A delivery driver for Bell’s Pizza in Ann Arbor was robbed of cash at gunpoint by two bandits posing as customers early Thursday.

Ann Arbor police Lt. Renee Bush said the 38-year-old Ypsilanti man was delivering a pizza at about 1 a.m. to the 1000 block of Bluestem Lane.

The robbery was the fourth reported in Ann Arbor in a week, including at least one other involving a gun.

An Ann Arbor woman was robbed of her cell phone after a man grabbed it from her early Saturday morning in the 500 block of East William Street, according to police. On Monday night, two masked men robbed the Broadway Party Store at gunpoint, making off with liquor and cash.

On Tuesday, a Flint man was robbed of liquor and cash after he was struck in the head with a rock by an unknown man who then fled the area, according to police.

In the incident Thursday morning, the man got out of his delivery car with the pizza to look for the address when two people sitting on the steps of a condominium told him they were the customers, Bush said.

The first person reached into a pocket, as if reaching for money, but pulled out a gun and pointed it at the delivery man, Bush said.

The other robber held the delivery man’s hands behind his back and searched his pockets, taking out cash, Bush said. The two robbers took the pizza as well, before fleeing the area toward South Maple Road, Bush said.

The robber with the gun was described as between 20 and 29 years old, 6-feet-2 inches tall, thin build, wearing a black winter jacket and a knit cap. Bush said the delivery man did not know if the person was a man or woman.

The man who searched the victim’s pockets was described as about 21 years old, 5-feet-10 inches tall, wearing a black baseball type jacket and a light colored baseball hat, Bush said. Both of the robbers were described as black, Bush said.

The suspects in all four robberies are still at large and police are continuing to investigate. Anyone with information on these incidents is encouraged to call the Ann Arbor police anonymous tip line at 734-794-6939.


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Comments

CPLtownie

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 10:08 p.m.

@enso - so, your solution is to allow the thugs right of way over law abiding citizens? Guns don't kill people, Mayors and city council people who slash police department staff to pay for public art kill people. (ok, a little extreme, but y'get the gist.) The delivery driver probably got ticketed for idling his car while being robbed.

Ulysses Wong

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 5:15 p.m.

SO....the take away from all these reports are that: 1) Criminals won't wait patiently while you call the police and then for them to arrive 2) Law enforcement can't be there to protect you when you need it. Say it ain't so!

treetowncartel

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:58 p.m.

What were the toppings on the pizza? Maybe, they could look at similar orders that were placed in the past and discern who the culprits are form that. BTW, figuritvely speaking, Bells cheese pizza is to die for.

Liz

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:44 p.m.

I live on Bluestem and saw the cops and dogs outside sniffing around the yard last night and wondered what was going on. As a resident...I'm wondering whose condo they used to frame the delivery guy....I'm hoping not mine?

Alan Goldsmith

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:41 p.m.

Maybe if the Mayor has any free time from guarding the Giant Urinal Water Fountain, he can put on his superhero cape and try to solve these crimes, since he's 'comfortable' with cutting police staffing.

Craig Lounsbury

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:25 p.m.

Glad the driver is OK. Delivery folks have dangerous jobs. Top 10 dangerous jobs. Yet nobody ever calls them heroes for delivering a package or a pizza to our door.

Craig Lounsbury

Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 11:54 a.m.

ah but "the danger" is measured by...how dangerous the job is. In order to "run toward the danger" the job needs to be statistically dangerous.

nowayjose

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 9:52 p.m.

Just because your job makes you more liking to be a victim doesnt make you a hero. A hero is someone who steps up to the danger when others are running away.

nvragain

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:08 p.m.

Bush said this. Bush said that. "Bush said" 6 times in this article. Without any other quote from any other people, using "Bush said" with such redundancy is quite unneccesary! Also, I know this topic has been dicussed before, however to add the "described"race as the last decsriptor of the suspects in this article after describing the color of the coat and type of hat (it was knitted) is not only preposterous it is sad.

Major

Fri, Apr 13, 2012 : 2:29 p.m.

Kyle, I see you got caught up on something several here have asked to fix...the ability to edit/delete a comment. I think most, but obviously not all, readers can mentally filter out the typo's, we all do it in our haste to get out a comment. The snob elitists will aways pick on your every word..it's spelin an da gramer to.

Kyle Feldscher

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 5:45 p.m.

Clearly I meant "clothing description" not "closing."

Kyle Feldscher

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 5:26 p.m.

The reason I listed the race after the closing description is because I generally write "the man was described as black..." or "the woman was described as white..." However, in this case, the first suspect isn't known to be a man or woman. So instead of saying "the person was described as black," which I felt to be too general, I combined both of the suspects descriptions together at the end. I just want you to understand the process I went through here.

nvragain

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 5:09 p.m.

Did I hear the term standard practice? I better replace the chair at my desk with a commode, I can hardly keep from laughing. How about the old and outdated standard practice of proofreading? And how about a response as to why the race of the suspects was listed after a clothing description? Last time I checked someone can change their clothing quickly, not so much their race.

Kyle Feldscher

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:46 p.m.

It is standard practice for reporters to attribute facts to the person who gave them to the reporter. It might make for repetitive reading on occasion, but not attributing those facts to Lt. Bush would give the false impression that I witnessed this incident firsthand.

HardWorker

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:24 p.m.

I know, man. It's even twice in two paragraphs. Sounds like AnnArbor.com dictates a minimum word count for its articles and a minimum number of comment removals for its moderator. I completely agree with your other point as well. Oh well, day-to-day sugar coating.

Badm

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 3:57 p.m.

I got a really great ideas to stop these crimes ,, that the city could use 1. add more bike lanes for the few people riding bikes and to streets that are already to congested 2. buy more park land especially with streams and trees so the criminals can get lost in the parks running from the few police we have . 3. ad more stop signs to cross walks no body uses . 4. Layoffs more cops and fire men so we good tax paying citizens feel even more safer and we citizens just carry more guns and fire extinguishers . 5. start a neighborhood watch where we shot first and ask questions later .

Josh Zincke

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:25 p.m.

Best idea ever!.

Bcar

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 3:33 p.m.

I know, lets buy some more art!! We can fight back and attack these people with "culture..."

smokeblwr

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 3:16 p.m.

Next thing you know people are going to be calling for a Neighborhood Watch.....

ranger007

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 6:31 p.m.

Seems like neighborhood watch is a good idea since there arnt enough police to help protect and I hope they are armed. Maybe some of the knuckle head will think twice

TheGerman

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 6:13 p.m.

Enso - I would normally agree with you, and countries in Europe are a perfect example, but getting rid of guns in the US leaves a lot of criminals with guns, and citizens without a chance to defend themselves.

Enso

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 5:52 p.m.

They don't need to be armed. They need to take guns off the streets. Handguns serve no other purpose than to kill people.

TheGerman

Thu, Apr 12, 2012 : 4:27 p.m.

I hope people do, and I hope they are armed.