OXNARD : Boy, 15, Arrested in Store Holdup

A 15-year-old Oxnard youth was arrested early Tuesday after he robbed a convenience store in southeast Oxnard and made a getaway in a vehicle stolen from two men at gunpoint, officials said.

The male teen-ager, whose name was not released because he is a minor, held up a clerk at a 7-Eleven store in the 1100 block of South C Street just after midnight, Oxnard police said. Brandishing a gun, the youth forced two men in a nearby neighborhood to drive him away from the scene, officers said.

While en route, the boy struck the driver of the pickup truck, Francisco Martinez, twice in the head, police said. A short time later, he ordered both men to get out of the truck and forced Martinez to leave his wallet, authorities said.

He fled in the truck, but returned to the site where he had dropped the two men off as police officers were interviewing them. The men identified the youth and officers arrested him after a short pursuit, police said.

The juvenile was arrested on two counts of armed robbery, two counts of kidnaping, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of grand theft auto, and was booked into Juvenile Hall. The truck and the money taken from the convenience store were recovered, but Martinez’s wallet was not found, authorities said.