CHARLOTTE, N.C. — SWAT members and an armored vehicle were called to an east Charlotte apartment complex early Monday morning after police said robbery suspects had barricaded themselves inside.
Dozens of officers descended on the Stanford Reserve Luxury Apartments, just off Albemarle Road, before 5 a.m. after receiving information that two men who had robbed a Sam's Mart at gunpoint were inside one of the units.
The apartments were placed on lockdown as SWAT members surrounded the complex on Kelston Place.
“I wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning to a bang on the door and it ruins everything,” said Anthony King, who lives in the apartment on Kelston Place where Omar Galvan, 20, and Blake Lubbers, 19, had gone after police said they robbed a Sam’s Mart on Albemarle Road at 3:30 a.m.
King said the two had been at the apartment earlier in the evening and he went to bed around midnight, then woke up to a team of SWAT officers outside and went to tell police what had happened. He was worried because his infant daughter was in the apartment as well.
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Police told Channel 9 those suspects had barricaded themselves inside a unit, and that a baby was inside that unit alone with them.
Just after 7 a.m, a SWAT members rescued the baby and could be seen carrying the child in a blanket away from the scene. The baby was not hurt and was reunited with its parents.
"Nervous doesn't even describe it. It's a feeling that no parent should have to go through---ever," King said outside his apartment later in the morning, after police had gotten his daughter out safely.
"The baby was asleep in the apartment and the SWAT officers went in and rescued the baby," said Capt. Chuck Henson, who supervises CMPD's Hickory Grove Division.
Henson said it was never a hostage situation, and the two suspects may not have even known the little girl was in the apartment.
Galvan said nothing as officers took him to jail just after noon. He and Lubbers are both charged with armed robbery and conspiracy, with their bonds at $60,000 each.
SWAT negotiators were able to talk with a suspect inside the apartment and he surrendered around 7 a.m. A short time later, SWAT members entered the apartment and arrested the other suspect.
After taking the two suspects into custody, police said the standoff was over. The men arrested were identified as Omar Galvon and Blake Ryan Lubbers.
Police said the two robbed the Sam's Mart on Albemarle Road around 3:30 a.m. before heading to the apartments.
Authorities said the incident was never a hostage situation.
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Channel 9's Joe Bruno was the first reporter is on the scene, follow him on Twitter for updates.
East Charlotte officers kept busy with overnight crimes
It was a busy night for police in the Hickory Grove division in east Charlotte.
In addition to the scene where the suspects were holed up in an apartment, there were two other crime scenes being investigated by officers.
Earlier, police said they tried to stop a stolen car off Albemarle Road when the suspects jumped and ran near Rosena Drive.
Police were able to arrest one person. They fanned out across the neighborhood with K9s, looking for the other suspects, but had not made any other arrests.
A short time later, just about three miles away, police said two people knocked on a door on Doblinway Drive and robbed the family inside. So far there have been no arrests in that case either.
All these crimes happened between midnight and 3:30 a.m.
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