The Anchorage Police Department has arrested a man accused of robbing the Lake Otis Parkway Party Time Liquors store at gunpoint early Wednesday morning.
Police responded to the robbery at 12:44 a.m. An employee inside the store had been approached by a male suspect, armed with a rifle and demanding cash. Another employee reportedly arrived at the store just as the suspect was leaving, and the suspect took that employee’s cellphone and car keys, fleeing the scene in the employee’s vehicle.
APD officers located the stolen vehicle at 2:34 a.m., abandoned “in the area of Carriage Drive and Newt Drive,” a statement from APD says.
Around 5:22 a.m., police were called to the scene of a verbal dispute on the 6000 block of Spruce Meadows Drive. One of the three individuals involved, 27-year-old Miguel Batista, was armed with a rifle and believed to be the suspect involved in the robbery, APD spokesman Renee Oistad says. All three were transported to APD headquarters for interviews, where it was determined Batista acted alone in the robbery. The other individuals were released.
Further investigation revealed the firearm used in the robbery had been reported stolen from a local store earlier this year.
Batista was charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, vehicle theft, three counts of third-degree assault and one count of third-degree theft. He was remanded to the Anchorage Correctional Complex, where he awaits his arraignment tomorrow, according to police.