Conn. Police Detective Catches Armed Robber in Act on a Hunch

A detective’s hunch that a robber would return to the scene of his previous crime panned out Thursday morning, leading to a gunpoint confrontation at a Wolcott convenience store, police said Thursday.

Police arrested Jeysem Steven Rivera-Alvarez, 21, on charges that included first-degree robbery, reckless endangerment, threatening and interfering with police. Rivera-Alvarez was at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury being treated for a police dog’s bite to his right forearm, Police Chief Edward Stephens said.

Events began Sunday at 5:50 p.m. when a clerk at the Express Mart at 1585 Meriden Road reported an armed robbery. On Wednesday at 10:45 p.m., the same suspect entered the Cumberland Farms at 1655 Meriden Road, again with a gun in his hand. He racked a round into the chamber, pointed the pistol at the clerk and ordered him to open the register, Stephens said.

There was not much cash in the drawer, so the robber told the clerk to open the safe. The clerk told him he could not open the safe because he did not know how and the robber left, Stephens said.

On Thursday morning, Det. Richard Hamel, a veteran officer who previously worked for Waterbury police, was at the Cumberland Farms gathering evidence when he decided to sit in the nearby Express Mart parking lot on a hunch that the robber might return, Stephens said.

At 10:30 a.m., Hamel saw the suspect in the previous two robberies enter the store, police said. Hamel radioed in the information and entered the store, where the robber was behind the counter holding a gun against the clerk’s side, Stephens said.

Hamel drew his weapon and ordered the robber to drop his gun, the chief said. Instead, the man moved his hands out, still holding the gun, but pointing it away from the clerk, Stephens said. He told Hamel not to shoot him and began backing into a back room, gun still in hand, while Hamel continued ordering him to drop the weapon.

Hamel told the clerk to come from behind the counter and took him out the front door to safety, Stephens said. The robber ran out the back door and jumped a fence. A loaded Glock pistol with a round in the chamber and three more in the clip, along with cash, were found at the bottom of the fence, Stephens said.

Officers swarmed into the area and Tyrrell School was notified to lock down. A police officer with his canine, Bane, captured Rivera-Alvarez in the area, Stephens said.

The chief praised Hamel as “calm and cool,” saying he prioritized the store clerk’s safety in a life or death situation.

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