Armed robbery of Kentucky store ends in 100 mph chase through three counties, escape into Louisville woods

Published 5:33 am Wednesday, May 19, 2021

An armed robbery that took place early Tuesday evening at an East Frankfort AT&T store ended in an hour-plus long saga, including a high-speed chase, with the suspects evading police in Franklin, Shelby and Jefferson counties.

The chase took law enforcement from Frankfort to a wooded area in the middle of a Louisville suburb near Valhalla Golf Course. Law enforcement apprehended one juvenile, while the other suspect is still at-large.

The suspects, who stole 20 to 30 phones after brandishing a gun, were apprehended with the assistance of police dogs, helicopters and AT&T company phone tracking technology according to FPD spokesperson Lynn Aubrey.

Two Frankfort Police units followed the suspects all the way to Louisville, Aubrey said. An officer on the police scanner commented that at one point they were traveling up to 100 miles per hour.

After robbing an AT&T store employee of several phones, the pair took off in a maroon Ford Explorer sport model with Indiana plates down I-64 westbound and later U.S. 60. Local law enforcement had eyes on the vehicle — which was reportedly weaving through traffic at high speeds, at one point reaching 100 mph — before Franklin County, Shelby County, and Kentucky State Police lost a visual, Aubrey said.

AT&T phone tracking drew law enforcement to the Lake Forest neighborhood in Southeast Louisville, near Middletown, where the suspects were tracked in the woods behind a house on Hickory Ridge Road.

Aubrey said that the juvenile suspect was booked in Franklin County, and will be charged with at least first degree robbery.

“The vehicle, which was stolen from a Louisville car dealership, was recovered.” Aubrey said. “The stolen property from AT&T was recovered from the juvenile in custody.”

The suspects were spotted by an officer on I-64 in Franklin County as they were fleeing. Law enforcement in Shelby County, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office as well as the Kentucky State Police were then contacted and worked with FPD.

Police kept eyes on the vehicle on I-64, and later when the suspects made their way onto U.S. 60 westbound, traveling through Shelbyville and Simpsonville. The last visual of the vehicle was reported on the police scanner just past the Jefferson County line.

Then AT&T tracking signaled that at least one suspect had made it to a wooded area near Middletown, a suburb in Southeast Louisville.

The juvenile suspect was apprehended at approximately 7 p.m., Aubrey said. Louisville Metro Police assisted in the search with helicopter and K-9 units.

The suspects were described by police as two young black males, one standing around 5’10 and the other roughly 6’2.

Aubrey said that the pair evaded several law enforcement agencies before the one suspect was apprehended.

“We had it and lost it, then Shelby County had it and they lost it,” Aubrey said. “KSP had it and they lost it. Then they were able to track it to that neighborhood in Middletown where we could tell they were out on foot because it was moving so slow.”

Aubrey said that FPD set up a perimeter with the help of Middletown Police Department, KSP and even Kentucky Fish & Wildlife.

“It was a massive undertaking,” Aubrey said.

Other organizations involved were Shelbyville Police Department and Louisville Metro Police’s air unit.