Christopher Watts, a 16-year-old Baltimore resident, was arrested Saturday as a suspect in a series of armed robberies, including that of a group of three Hopkins students in the Charles Village area.
Watts, who is being charged with first degree robbery and handgun possession, also robbed a non-Hopkins student and attempted to rob another Hopkins student with the aid of an accomplice.
"There was a short foot pursuit with some district officers, and then they finally arrested the individual at 39th and University," Hopkins Lt. of Investigations Steve Ossmus said.
"In the course of confronting him they observed him throw a gun to the ground, which was later determined to be an air pistol," he added.
Watts is a juvenile but will be charged as an adult because of the gun possession charge, said Baltimore Police Department Detective Donny Moses.
On Jan. 30 at 11:51 p.m., three Hopkins students were robbed on the 3100 block of North Calvert Street. The suspect was described as wearing a bandana and carrying a dark handgun.
Shortly after, the pair of suspects attempted to rob Hopkins junior Steve Iwanyk.
"After those two black guys robbed them, they fell back into the alleyway. The two
guys walked up towards me and said `Yo' and I said `Yo,' and then one turned around, and I noticed that his buddy had a gun," Iwanyk said.
"They asked for my wallet and then the guy pulled out the gun and pointed it in my face. I didn't want to get robbed, so I smacked the gun out of the guy's hand and turned and ran," he added.
Iwanyk said that he realized the next day that others had been robbed prior to his encounter with the men when he found credit cards and J-cards in the alleyway where the incident occurred.
Ossmus said that collaboration between Hopkins and the police forces in the Northern District allowed for a rapid response time.
"Once we conferred with the city, we began putting together different strategies," Ossmus added.
"Major Steven Lukasik deployed six additional cars in the area at our request because of the incident, between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m."
Two days later on Feb. 1, a non-Hopkins affiliate was robbed at 10:29 a.m. on the 2800 block of Hargrove Street.
Two black males approached a man loading the back of a vehicle with computer equipment and forced him into the back seat and drove him around for a while before putting him in the trunk. The victim escaped and the car was later recovered, reported Moses.
Another armed robbery occurred on Feb. 2, two hours before the individual was arrested. However, this incident wasn't reported until after the arrest and has not yet been confirmed as related.
Ossmus said that victims were showed a photo array featuring a picture of Watts and five other fill-in photographs.
"The victims positively identified him as being suspect," Ossmus said. He reported that the ease with which Hopkins worked with the Northern District was what lead to the speedy arrest.
"I believe that the reason that these individuals were caught so quickly was because they put a lot of forces out there that were able to cast a net down in the area to capture the individuals," Ossmus said.
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