THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9512310057
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
The commotion behind the counter of the McDonald's got the teen's attention. The audible cock of a handgun sent him out the door.
He wanted to run home. But the ninth-grader thought of his friend, an employee of the restaurant, sprawled on the floor under the guns of robbers. So he sprinted across the street to get help early Saturday morning.
Police arrived in time. Two Norfolk people were arrested. No one was hurt.
And investigators from several area cities think it might be the break they need to solve a months-long string of similar robberies on both sides of Hampton Roads.
They're crediting it to the quick action and good citizenship of the 16-year-old boy.
All the soft-spoken teen wanted was a midnight snack and to play some video games with his friend.
He helped out, he said later Saturday, just ``because - I wouldn't want anybody getting shot over something like that.''
The foiled robbery began shortly before midnight Friday at the McDonald's Restaurant at 652 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard.
Officer Bobby Kipper, a police spokesman, said two men and a woman hid in a bathroom until shortly before its midnight closing time. When the manager discovered them, the trio forced her to open a safe. They made four other employees lie on the floor.
The teen - who agreed to tell his story if his identity wasn't revealed - sat apparently unnoticed in the back of the restaurant. He had just polished off a double Big Mac, a chicken sandwich, french fries and a large drink and was waiting for his friend to get off work so they could play video games.
Instead, he saw two men emerge up front, asking about security guards.
``After he said that two times, he said, `Everybody get on the floor! Everybody get on the floor!' '' the teen said.
One of the men pulled out a handgun.
``When I heard the piece cock back, I was out the door,'' the boy said.
He didn't worry about getting shot, he said - he was outside too fast. But he slowed up and decided to go for help.
He knocked on the windows of the just-closed Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers across the street. The manager didn't believe him at first.
``He looked at me like I was stupid,'' the boy said. ``I had to tell him four times before he'd call the cops.
``I just stood over, I clutched my hair, I said, `McDonald's is being robbed!' I said it kind of slow, so he could understand me.''
The boy sat at an outside corner of the Wendy's and watched the robbers inside the McDonald's across the street. Police shortly arrived.
The first officer spotted a woman running out of the eatery and into a waiting 1990 Honda Civic four-door sedan, police said. The car sped off with a man at the wheel, careening several blocks through a residential area before it stopped near Woods Road. The woman was arrested and a handgun recovered from the car, but the driver escaped.
At the McDonald's, other arriving officers arrested an armed man leaving through a back door, and confiscated a second handgun.
Police identified the arrested suspects as Mercedes Danza, 21, of the 4500 block of Ocean View Boulevard in Norfolk, and James Riddick, 39, of the 9700 block of 19th Bay St. in Norfolk. Both were charged with robbery, five counts of abduction and six firearms charges.
In addition, Riddick was charged with the Dec. 26 holdup of a Hardee's restaurant at 11017 Jefferson Ave. He faces three robbery and abduction charges and six firearms counts in that incident.
On Saturday, police were investigating suspected links with similar fast-food restaurant robberies on the lower Peninsula and South Hampton Roads.
After police arrived at the McDonald's early Saturday, the teen returned to find his friend in good shape, nervously drinking coffee. The friend shook his hand and thanked him, as did the rest of the restaurant's staff.
The teen said he plans to return to the restaurant - at least one time.
``Yeah,'' he said. ``I'm trying to get a job there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Map
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KEYWORDS: ROBBERY ARREST by CNB