Suspect in Drugstore Robbery Linked to Other ‘Terror’ Heists

A gunman who took two employees hostage after the robbery of a North Hollywood drugstore went bust is suspected of committing other Los Angeles drugstore heists during which employees were terrorized, police said.

Arthur Thomas Williams Jr., 30, was arrested at 12:20 a.m. Wednesday after a two-hour standoff with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team at the Thrifty Store at 6639 Laurel Canyon Blvd.

Among the robberies Williams is suspected of committing was one at the same store eight days earlier, in which $7,000 was stolen, police said.

Both employees held hostage Wednesday were handcuffed but released unhurt. Police said no shots were fired and no customers were injured.

Williams was described by police as “very excited at first” but calm as the hostage situation continued, said Sgt. Robert Ontiveros of the LAPD’s North Hollywood Division, who negotiated with Williams throughout the incident.

“He said he had already been in prison, that he had done a few more robberies and that he knew he was going to prison for life,” Ontiveros said. “He said he wanted to make a few phone calls--to his father in Fresno and his girlfriend. He also said if we came in there, someone would probably get hurt.”

With Ontiveros and Williams’ parents linked to the store in a telephone conference call, they persuaded him to give up peacefully.

“He eventually did what we asked,” Ontiveros said, “including sending the hostages out first.”

Williams was being held in Los Angeles County Jail pending a Friday arraignment on armed robbery and other charges. Although his bail was set at $150,000, Williams could not be released because he was on parole for drug and burglary convictions, police said.

Throughout the day Wednesday, police circulated Williams’ photograph to managers of Thrifty outlets and other convenience stores and drugstores in the Los Angeles area in an attempt to connect him with other armed robberies, said Detective Rick Jamieson.

So far, Williams has been linked by witnesses to at least two similar armed robberies in which Thrifty employees were handcuffed and threatened with execution “if they tried anything funny,” said Jamieson. “And we anticipate connecting him to additional robberies.”

One of those was the Aug. 3 robbery of the Laurel Canyon Thrifty, in which a gunman confronted three employees near closing time, Jamieson said. A month ago, an armed gunman held up a Thrifty store in Sylmar, also at closing time, and handcuffed six employees’ arms behind their backs before fleeing with $3,000, police said.

Witnesses to those heists, including one shopper who was in the North Hollywood store both times it was robbed, have identified Williams, said Jamieson.

Even before the most recent holdup, police had issued warnings to all area Thrifty managers because of the potentially violent nature of the unidentified gunman and the large amount of money taken during the robberies.

“These were not your typical ‘Give me the money from the cash register’ robberies,” said Jamieson. “Just the fact that you’d go into a business with that many people, take the time to handcuff them and get all the money, it’s out of the ordinary.”

Thrifty officials declined to comment on the string of robberies.

In the most recent robbery, police said Williams, dressed in a black shirt and pants, entered the store about 10 p.m. Tuesday when there were few shoppers, and employees were closing up for the night. Police said he pointed a gun at an employee and demanded to be taken to a back room where the safe was located.

Williams forced the manager to handcuff two employees and open the safe and then told him to get more money from the store’s cash registers, police said.

Even though the gunman threatened to kill the two handcuffed employees if the manager didn’t return, the manager instead herded all the customers and other employees out of the store as a police patrol car was arriving, Jamieson said. He said another employee, sensing something was wrong, already had called 911.

“He did the right thing,” Jamieson said of the manager. “If he did go back, the guy could have killed all three of them.”

Williams was leaving with about $400 when he saw the police outside and retreated, authorities said. During the standoff, police cordoned off the shopping center and SWAT team members waited outside the store.