PASADENA >> Two men threatened a Pasadena hardware store manager with a knife while stealing a tool on Friday before police apprehend them minutes later on the 210 Freeway, police said.
Tracy Anthony Ingram, 48, of Baldwin Park and Eric Wayne Browne, 55, of Los Angeles were booked on suspicion of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon following the 6 p.m. robbery at True Value Hardware, 409 N. Fair Oaks Ave., according to Pasadena police officials and Los Angeles County booking records.
Browne asked an employee to show him a tool that was inside a locked display case, Pasadena police Lt. Mark Goodman said.
“When the clerk opened the case to show him the tool, he grabbed it and ran out of the store to a waiting van with several other occupants,” according to Goodman.
The store’s manager chased after the thief and confronted him after he had climbed into the van as a passenger.
“The driver of the van, suspect Ingram, pulled out a knife and threatened the manager with it, Goodman said. “The manager, fearing for his safety, backed away and the vehicle left the parking lot.”
Witnesses were able to give police the description and license plate number of the van, and officers quickly found it driving on the eastbound 210 Freeway. Police pulled over the van at Altadena Drive and arrested the two suspects without a struggle. The stolen tool was recovered. It was not clear Saturday morning what it was.
Another man, a woman and a child were also riding as passengers of the van were released at the scene, along with the van, Goodman said.
Ingram and Browne were being held in lieu of $100,000 each pending their initial court appearances, records show.