Police arrest men wanted in connection to multiple robberies
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A high school student was one of two teens arrested for armed robbery by Snellville police Wednesday.
Snellville police were flooded with tips after releasing surveillance video of two suspects wanted in connection with a string of robberies in Gwinnett County.
“In the early days they said you can’t outrun the radio, but in this day and age you can’t outrun social media apparently, because it was less than 12 hours we had our first suspect,” Snellville Police Cpl. Jeff Manley told FOX 5 News.
Surveillance cameras captured the July 29 armed robbery in the busy parking lot of the Cook Out restaurant on Scenic Highway in Snellville, and the two men police were looking for.
Snellville police said the suspects set up a meeting with the victim to purchase an iPhone he was selling online.
They met the man in the parking lot that evening got into the victim’s car, pulled a gun on him and robbed him.
Less than 12 hours after releasing that surveillance video, police got a break in the case.
“We had several social media tips that identified the first subject”, said Cpl. Manley.
Tips led police to 18-year-old Zion Cowart. Authorities arrested Cowart at his home in Loganville without incident.
Police said Cowart confessed to the crime and provided information that led police to 17-year-old Emmanuel Boayke, a student at Collins Hill High in Lawrenceville. Officers apprehended Boayke on campus a short time later.
Gwinnett County police wanted the suspects for similar crimes near Norcross and Duluth.
Detectives said the men stole an iPhone from a woman who was selling the device near Norcross on July 24. The same suspects reportedly robbed a man of his Sony PlayStation in Duluth on July 31.
In those two cases, Gwinnett County police said the suspects had set up those meetings through the LetGo App.
“I’m glad that they are off the streets, everyone is safe, the officers are safe, we got them in custody, in jail where they belong. All’s well that ends well.”
Officials have charged both men with two counts of robbery and one count of armed robbery.