THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511120110
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
When two men barged into a Burger King restaurant Friday night and rounded up all the employees at gunpoint, they thought they had everyone in the place under their control.
What they didn't count on was a homeless man who was relaxing in the restaurant.
He slipped out, flagged down police and helped thwart the escape of one gunman.
Mike Carey, a police spokesman, said employees of the Burger King restaurant in the 5800 block of Northampton Blvd. near Burton Station Road were preparing to close the dining room about 9:45 p.m. when two men armed with semi-automatic weapons stormed in.
The gunmen announced a robbery and forced employees who were cleaning up into one area of the restaurant.
The gunmen took money from cash registers and one of them ordered the store manager to a backroom to find additional cash. The other suspect held the employees at gunpoint.
``What the gunmen did not realize was that a homeless man was sitting at a table in the dining room out of their line of sight,'' Carey said.
The homeless man, whose name was not released because he was a witness to the crime, ``quietly slipped out of the restaurant,'' Carey said.
In the meantime, one of the employees, a woman, bolted from the store and jumped into her car. She sped to a nearby 7-Eleven, where she also sought help.
The homeless man spotted a police cruiser stopped at a traffic light and ran into the intersection to flag it down.
He told officers Dathan Ashe and Arthur Sargent about the robbery.
The officers called for assistance and drove to the restaurant.
As they pulled into the lot, the two suspects, carrying an undisclosed amount of cash, ran out the door and into a wooded area behind the restaurant.
Ashe and Sargent gave chase and caught one of the men. The other, who stripped off clothing as he ran in an apparent effort to make it harder to describe and identify him, got away.
Both guns used in the robbery were found and some of the stolen cash was recovered.
Police charged Monet D. McEachin, 22, of the 1200 block of Bunsen Court in Norfolk with armed robbery, abduction and using a gun while committing a felony. He was being held in the city jail Saturday night without bond.
``At this point, we don't have any leads on who the other suspect is,'' Carey said. He is described as Hispanic, about 19 to 22 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall and 119 to 130 pounds.
Anyone with information about the suspect is asked to call Crime Solvers at 427-0000.
KEYWORDS: ROBBERY by CNB