Only on 13: Teen robbery ring in Houston busted after shooting bystander, 1 suspect at large

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Police have arrested four teenagers accused of robbing businesses at gunpoint across the Houston area.

On Jan. 6, a man who didn't want to be identified said he was walking home from a bar in The Heights after celebrating his birthday.

On his way, he crossed paths with three masked men who police say had just robbed a Circle K on West 18th Street.

"As I'm walking up to the corner, they come running around the gas station... all of a sudden, I get shot in the chest," the man said.

"I don't even think they really meant to shoot me. I think it was more of a knee-jerk like, 'Oh crap, there's a guy right there,'" he added.

Tyree Maloid, 18, was arrested this week. Police say he admitted to driving the robbery suspects to the Circle K and two more robberies that same night, including another Circle K on West 34th Street.

Many of the suspects are just 17 years old and some of them are linked to other robberies including one at a Dollar General on Lee Road in the Humble area on Jan. 17.

That afternoon, Jermica Blunt says she was checking out customers when two masked men burst in with guns.

"I want to cry 'cause that was like the worst day of my life," Blunt said.

Blunt said one of the suspects pressed a gun into her back while another pressed one into her ribs.

"He was saying things in my ear like, 'I could take you from your family within the blink of an eye.' And that just threw me through a shock," she said.

The other suspects in the robbery ring have been identified as Chamain Waldrup, 17; Cameron Levels, 17; and Nyke Miles, 17.

A fifth suspect remains at large.

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