A Poplar Bluff, Mo., man began 2018 by allegedly robbing a cab driver just minutes after midnight and then is accused of firing multiple rounds in a residential neighborhood from a stolen SUV.
Bryant Edward Jenkins, 21, remains in the Butler County jail on suspicion of first-degree robbery, armed criminal action, unlawful use of a weapon and stealing a motor vehicle.
He is accused of committing crimes, which were reported to the Poplar Bluff Police Department at 12:03 a.m.
It was then that Police Sgt. Joe Ward was flagged down at the intersection of Valley and Fifth streets by Michael J. Kern, a driver for Sandy's Cab.
The 33-year-old Fisk, Mo., man reported he had been robbed at gunpoint at a location in the 300 block of West Neat Street.
"Michael advised he had picked the suspect up at (Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center's ER, and when he arrived in the alley behind 303 W. Neat, the suspect pulled a handgun," Ward wrote in his report.
The suspect, described as a black male, wearing a white shirt, blue jeans and carrying a backpack, demanded "everything he had," Ward said. "During a search of the vehicle, the suspect located (a) handgun in the console and took it" before fleeing on foot.
The weapon, Kern reported, was an "old Syfer .25(-caliber) automatic handgun."
Ward said Kern also reported the suspect had a "star tattoo on his left hand."
Officers reportedly went to the hospital, where they obtained a photograph of the suspect from the surveillance video.
At that point, according to Detective Andy Cleaveland, the robbery investigation, although still ongoing, was at a dead end.
At about 5:55 a.m., Ward and other officers were sent to the area of Center and Fifth streets regarding a report of shots fired. The suspect vehicle was described as a dark-colored SUV.
Officers reportedly began searching the area for the suspect vehicle.
"As I was turned on Fifth from Main Street, I observed a dark-colored SUV northbound on Fifth Street at Main," Ward explained. "I turned around, and the vehicle turned north on Main Street."
As Ward approached the SUV, he said, he saw it had no state registration.
The vehicle turned onto Alice and stopped in a driveway in the 900 block of the street after Ward activated his patrol car's emergency lights.
A traffic stop subsequently was conducted.
Ward, Cleaveland said, approached the driver, identified as Jenkins, while Patrolman Jamie Sample approached the female passenger.
"Joe Ward had got a description of the (robbery) suspect," which included the white shirt with a "specific pattern on the front," Cleaveland said. The tattoo's description, he said, also included lines or writing on the same hand.
"He immediately sees the star tattoo on (Jenkins') left hand, and he's still wearing the clothing from the robbery," Cleaveland said. "He immediately thinks this is our guy in the robbery."
At that point, Cleaveland said, Jenkins was taken into custody.
The SUV's female occupant, he said, was detained.
"Officers noticed her purse was extremely heavy," Cleaveland said. "They asked her if she had a weapon in her purse.
"She didn't answer. They asked her again."
Again, Cleaveland said, the woman didn't respond.
Since the woman was acting "extremely nervous," Cleaveland said, the woman was handcuffed and her purse opened.
Inside, he said, the officers found a pistol, which "matched the pistol used in the robbery."
Cleaveland said the woman subsequently was interviewed and reported shots had been fired at Center and Fifth, as well as Sanders and Neat. A total of five shots reportedly were fired from the SUV.
"She told me while in the car on the traffic stop, (Jenkins) handed her the gun," Cleaveland said. "He basically said hold on to this because they won't search you."
Cleaveland said he also extensively interviewed Jenkins, who "admitted to stealing the car they were in."
The SUV's owner came into the station at about 7 p.m. to report it had been stolen sometime after 3 p.m. from her residence in the 300 block of Neat Street.
"I also confronted him with the evidence we had regarding the robbery," Cleaveland said. "He admitted to robbing the guy.
"He wouldn't tell me where the stolen gun is (but) admitted the gun used in the robbery" was the one "we found in her purse."