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Police arrested a 21-year-old man Tuesday night on suspicion of robbing his ex-girlfriend’s apartment and attacking two of the occupants.
The suspect, Rafael Pena, wasn’t alone — three other people also broke into the apartment complex on July 30, according to court documents.
The robbery started at around 7 a.m., according to an arrest report submitted to court..
A 13-year-old boy was cleaning inside the apartment while two adults slept in the master bedroom. He heard a knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked out the peephole, police said. Eventually, the boy went outside and two people grabbed and held him at gunpoint, police say.
Two other people came out of a black two-door car that was parked nearby, according to court documents. The four brought the boy to the apartment at gunpoint, covering his mouth, police said.
They then forced him to his apartment’s floor, which woke up a man in the bedroom, police said. However, when the man tried to leave his room, one of the robbers smacked his head with a rifle, according to court documents.
The man fell back into his bed and his head was hit with a rifle twice more, police said. The robbers demanded the keys to the occupants’ cars, vehicle titles and money, police said.
One of the robbers put a gun to a woman’s head and demanded she sign over the cars, hitting her head with the weapon when she tried to look at their face, police said.
Police said the robbers dragged the 13-year-old boy into the bedroom and threatened to cut off his finger if they didn’t hand over their money.
One of the robbers ordered an accomplice to search for pliers, police said. While the family was held at gunpoint, they robbed the house, police said.
The robbers stole a surveillance video recorder that showed them entering or leaving the apartment, but the video was saved to the cloud, so a witness who was not at the house during the attack was able to see it, police said.
She recognized one of the robbers as Pena, her ex-boyfriend, according to police documents. She told investigators she was positive it was Pena, since the two knew each other for three years and dated for around four months, police said.
Investigators saw the surveillance video and examined the victims’ injuries, which matched the details of the reports, police said. The family reported three items stolen: a blue Gucci belt valued at $300, a blue Louis Vuitton belt with black squares worth around $300, and a pair of brown Gucci sandals valued at $100, court documents stated.
Two cars were also taken.
Police arrested Pena at around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at an Avondale home.
It’s not clear whether the other three robbers were arrested. Avondale and Phoenix police did not respond to a request for comment.
Pena was booked into a Maricopa County jail on suspicion of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and theft.
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