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San Jose Police Arrest Two Suspects In Early June Armed Robbery, Shooting

SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- Police in San Jose on Monday announced the arrest of two suspects in an armed robbery and attempted murder at a South Bay gas station earlier this month.

According to the San Jose Police Department, on June 4th, officers responded to a report of an armed robbery with shots fired at a 76 gas station located on the 2100 block of North 1st Street.

A caller told police that a suspect robbed a customer in the gas station parking lot before robbing the gas station cashier. When a second customer accidentally interrupted the robbery and fled the store, the suspect -- later identified as 20-year-old San Jose resident Lenard Terry Hall -- fired several shots at the customer, missing him.

When the call about the robbery and shooting went out, officers on an unrelated stop of a suspicious vehicle at a parking lot nearby were able to quickly respond and found Hall hiding in the bushes across the street from the gas station. The suspect was apprehended with the assistance of a San Jose police canine.

A check of Hall's criminal background revealed he was responsible for a string of eight armed robberies since 2016. Detectives researched other similar unsolved robberies and identified two additional cases connected to Hall.

A search warrant served at Hall's residence uncovered items linking him to the additional robberies.

San Jose armed robbery shooting suspects Kevin Ta and Lenard Hall
San Jose armed robbery shooting suspects Kevin Ta and Lenard Hall (SJPD)

Through additional investigation, detectives determined 21-year-old San Jose resident Kevin Ta, the driver of the suspicious vehicle investigated earlier by officers, was an associate of Hall's and assisted in the gas station robbery and shooting. Detectives also identified Ta as the person responsible for another armed robbery in San Jose on May 20, 2019.

On Friday, June 14, 2019, Ta was arrested in Santa Clara by the San Jose Police Department's Covert Response Unit. Both Hall and Ta were booked into Santa Clara County Jail on multiple counts of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder.

Anyone with information on the robberies the two men have been charged with are asked to contact Detective Daren Reinke of the San Jose Police Department's Robbery Unit at 408-277-4166.

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