LAPD arrests man suspected in a string of armed robberies along Melrose Avenue

A man suspected of helping to rob multiple diners at gunpoint along trendy Melrose Avenue has been taken into custody, the Los Angeles Police Department said Thursday.

Quioness Wilson, 23, was arrested on suspicion of robbery in Pasadena on Wednesday evening. He is suspected of being the getaway driver in a holdup that was caught on surveillance camera Tuesday, said Capt. Jonathan Tippet of the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division. Wilson is being held on $350,000 bond.

Authorities believe two other men were involved in the holdup and are still searching for them.

“We are disturbed by the brazen daytime robbery which was captured on video and we are committed to fighting violent crime and using all our resources to keep all Angelenos safe,” LAPD Chief Michel Moore said.

Robbery-Homicide detectives took over the investigation Wednesday after surveillance video showed two men in hoodies walking up to diners in the 7300 block of Melrose on Tuesday. One of the men pulled a handgun from his pocket and pointed it at the diners, while the other began grabbing the victims’ cellphones, purses, wallets and shopping bags.

LAPD detectives believe the robbery crew was responsible for four robberies Tuesday, including two on Melrose, one on Whitley Avenue and one on South Hill Avenue. The holdups followed a spate of robberies reported on the afternoon of Sept. 1 with suspects matching the same description, police said. The crimes occurred on Olympic Boulevard, Melrose Boulevard and Gardner Street.

“The other robberies are very similar to the one in the video,” Tippet said. “Many of the victims are tourists.”

Detectives tracked a vehicle associated with leaving the scene of at least some of the crimes to a Pasadena location. Metropolitan Division officers detained the driver later identified as Wilson. A search warrant at Wilson’s Home after the arrest produced additional evidence associated with the robberies, Tippet said,