A 21-year-old accused of holding multiple employees at gunpoint in a string of gas station robberies across Central Florida, was arrested after abandoning his vehicle during a traffic stop and leading police on a wild foot chase.
Nijah Jahni Mitchell was arrested by Orlando Police Department deputies on April 1 in connection with multiple armed robberies at local gas stations across the area.
According to authorities, on March 31, two men wearing face masks entered the RaceTrac gas station located at 17108 West Colonial Drive in Winter Garden. The men approached a store clerk standing behind the register and pointed guns at him, demanding cash from the register.
Once the employee saw the guns, he fled from the store, ran across the street, and called 911. Two additional employees that were at the store also fled the location once they realized the store was being robbed.
In video surveillance footage obtained by police, the suspects are seen forcibly removing two cash registers before fleeing the location. The men were then seen leaving in a dark-colored Nissan Altima.
As police were investigating the robbery, Winter Garden Police Dispatch broadcasted that two males wearing the same clothing and masks had committed a robbery at a 7-Eleven located at 998 East Highway 50 in Clermont. The men were seen leaving the scene in a dark-colored Nissan Altima bearing a New York license plate.
Several hours later, Orange County Sheriff’s Office deputies found a cash register in the Crown Point Woods sub-division. The register had been pried open and an unknown amount of US currency had been removed. During a review of the community’s surveillance footage, a Nissan Altima was seen entering the community around 5 a.m. A license plate reader showed the suspect vehicle bore a New York license plate.
At the same time, the Winter Garden Police Department officer investigating the robbery at RaceTrac was contacted by an Orlando Police Department officer alleging that the suspects were also wanted in a series of additional gunpoint robberies at gas stations in Orlando.
The next day, April 1, police were called to the Circle K located at 505 Conway Road at around 1:28 a.m. in reference to an armed robbery.
During that robbery, an employee that was stocking shelves in the business was approached by a masked suspect, later identified as Mitchell, that pulled a gun on him.
Mitchell told the employee to open the cash register and demanded all the money from the register. In total, there was $200 in the register.
Mitchell then asked the employee to open the money safe near the register, but he was unable to. According to the employee, Mitchell looked down at the snack items and took a chip bag before casually walking out of the front door of the business.
After walking out of the business, Mitchell got into the front passenger seat of a black Nissan Maxima.
While OPD vehicles were on patrol, one of them located a vehicle matching the description provided by the employee. Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop and the vehicle fled. Eventually, the vehicle came to a stop and the two occupants inside took flight on foot from the officer. One of the occupants, Mitchell, was apprehended in the backyard of a home.
Mitchell was carrying a Glock 43X in his pants when he was caught.
Mitchell was arrested and transported to the Orange County Jail. He faces nearly a dozen charges for the robberies, including multiple counts of robbery with a firearm.