OAKLAND — Three months after a 13-year-old boy was arrested and charged with killing a clerk during a robbery spree, authorities have revealed they’re investigating a then-12-year-old boy as his possible accomplice.
All told, police are investigating the boys for possible involvement in a total of five East Bay robberies, all committed within a five-hour span on the evening on Jan. 6, authorities said. Last February, the older boy — who was 13 at the time — was charged with murdering 46-year-old Maged Alazzani, a clerk at Orlando Market in West Oakland. He was also charged with committing a second armed robbery that occurred 40 minutes after Alazzani was killed.
The second, younger suspect, who turned 13 roughly six weeks after the robbery spree, was arrested last month in connection with the robberies. But he has been released pending further investigation after a review by Alameda County prosecutors, authorities said.
According to police, both suspects entered the Orlando Market on Linden Street, told Alazzani, “Give me the money” and “I’m not joking,” and then the elder boy allegedly shot him in the chest. Then the boy allegedly passed the gun to the second suspect, who was seen brandishing it in the second store robbery roughly 40 minutes later.
The three other robberies that evening include one at the Target in Emeryville, police said. The robbers wore masks during the convenience store robberies, police said.
After they arrested the elder boy, police searched his electronic devices and found pictures of him and the younger boy posing with large amounts of cash during the same time frame as the robberies, authorities said. They also reviewed audio from surveillance cameras at the stores and compared that to both suspects.