ARKANSAS COMPUTER STOLEN FROM STORE AFTER OWNER SHOT Times Record: "Suspects Arrested In Store Robbery
Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:10 AM CST
By Hicham Raache
TIMES RECORD • HRAACHE@SWTIMES.COM

Police arrested five Fort Smith residents suspected of robbing Mexican Imports, including a woman suspected of shooting the store’s owner.

Sunshine Michelle Abbott, 23, was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of aggravated robbery and first-degree battery in the shooting of Consuelo Huerta, 38, during the robbery of Huerta’s store on Tuesday evening.

Terrance Steward, 25, Cory Steward, 23, Marcus Steward, 22, and Otis Reeders, 19, were also arrested on suspicion of aggravated robbery after police located all five of them at a residence in the 600 block of North Albert Pike Avenue at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to Sgt. Jarrard Copeland.

Investigators have yet to determine if the suspects are connected to any of several other robberies that have occurred in Fort Smith since Dec. 2., Copeland said.

"They do match some of the descriptions,” Copeland said. “We’ll continue to investigate these individuals and look at all the unsolved robberies and see if there’s any link.”

Police were dispatched to Mexican Imports, 2401 Midland Blvd., at 4:50 p.m. Tuesday and found Huerta, the store’s owner, sitting on the floor inside the store next to a pool of blood and a shell casing from a small-caliber bullet, according to a police report.

The responding officer stated in his report that Huerta, who was clutching her bloody right arm, “appeared in extreme pain and had difficulty speaking.”

Huerta told police that two masked black males and a handgun-carrying, masked white female with masculine features entered her store and demanded money, according to a police report.

Huerta said she explained to the trio of robbers that money was not available because she had yet to make a transaction, according to a police report.

Huerta told police that as the robbers persisted with their demands for money, the white female pointed a handgun at her and shot her, according to a police report.

The suspects fled Mexican Imports with the store’s computer, a Compaq Windows XP valued at $500, according to a police report.

While three perpetrators robbed Mexican Imports, two accomplices sat waiting in a vehicle, Copeland said.

As investigators were at the scene of the armed robbery, police received information that a group matching the description of the suspects attempted to pawn a computer at Paul’s Pawn, located a few blocks away from Mexican Imports at 1717 Midland Blvd., according to a news release.

A Paul’s Pawn employee who refused to purchase the computer made note of the physical description of the vehicle, a dark green Pontiac, and tag number, Copeland said.

“The employee had the presence of mind to take down the vehicle’s description and take down a tag number,” Copeland said. “The break we got here we attribute to the pawn shop, (whose) assistance was invaluable.”

Capt. Chris Boyd Sr., found the address of the owner of the suspected vehicle after he matched different variations of the reported tag number with the description of the vehicle, Copeland said.

Police arrived Wednesday morning at the residence of Amber Rushing, 23, where the dark green Pontiac was found parked, and located Abbott, Otis Reeders, Deanna Carter, 19, and Terrance, Cory and Marcus Steward, Copeland said.

Each of the seven was interviewed regarding the robbery of Mexican Imports as a warrant to search the residence was being issued, according to a news release.

Investigators searched the attic of the house, locating the Compaq computer stolen in the armed robbery and the handgun police suspect was fired at Huerta, which Copeland said was reported stolen out of Garland County.

Investigators also suspect that Abbott fired the same gun at a Fort Smith man 20-minutes before the robbery, Copeland said.

Cruz Palafox-Basurto, 26, told police that he was approaching his van at his residence in the 3900 block of Chaffee Drive when a dark green Pontiac pulled up next to his residence, according to a police report.

Palafox-Basurto said a white female sitting in the passenger seat of the Pontiac shouted, “What you want, you stupid wetback,” argued with him and proceeded to point a silver semiautomatic handgun at him, according to a police report.

Palafox-Basurto told police that the woman fired a single shot that hit the ground next to his feet, according to a police report.

Abbott was arrested on suspicion of a terroristic act in the incident, according to the news release.

Carter was arrested on suspicion of theft by receiving for allegedly occupying the residence where the stolen computer and handgun were found, and Rushing was arrested on suspicion of theft by receiving and hindering apprehension, Copeland said.

Terrance, Cory and Marcus Steward are all cousins of Meshawn Jamar Steward, 16, who was arrested in October on suspicion of shooting University of Arkansas at Fort Smith basketball player Terrist Parramore, 18, during a Halloween party at the Ramada Inn, 5103 Towson Ave., according to Copeland.

Investigators have yet to locate any of the masks that were allegedly worn during the armed robbery, Copeland said.

A second armed robbery that occurred on Tuesday at Dollar Tree, 2307 Zero St., in which a robber described as a 6-foot-tall, 200-pound black male wearing a black leather jacket and a gray hooded sweatshirt allegedly robbed a clerk with a handgun, is not connected to the robbery of Mexican Imports, Copeland said.

Although the suspects behind the robbery of Mexican Imports were captured, Copeland said, local store owners and clerks should not discount that more suspects are likely still at large and more robberies could occur.

“They need to make sure that their surveillance equipment is up and running because it’s very important in getting suspects identified,” Copeland said. “Sometimes no one has turned them on or changed the tape.”

Store clerks also need to quickly report robberies to police, Copeland said.

“One thing we’re seeing in these robberies is the clerk calling their employers and their spouses before calling 911, and we fall 15-minutes behind the robbers,” Copeland said