Pub robbery leads to SERT call-out, arrest

UPDATED: Perpetrators nabbed > Here’s why a large police presence came into the Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhood, early in the morning …

Throughout the late evening and into the morning, police block off outer East Portland streets while they search for two armed robbers.

Story and photos by David F. Ashton

This story started just as the evening was ending about 2:30 a.m. on July 7, with an armed robbery at the 82nd Avenue Bar and Grill, on SE 82^nd Avenue of Roses near Raymond Court.

“Officers responding to the armed robbery saw a vehicle being driven out of the area of the robbery at a high rate of speed,” said Portland Police Bureau (PPB) Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson.

After turning the wrecked car upright, officers continue to look for evidence in the vehicle that sped away from the robbery, crashed and overturned.

“The driver crashed in the area of SE 112th Avenue and Boise Street, and the two occupants ran from the crash scene,” Simpson said.

“I don’t know how they did it, but somehow, the guys in the silver Pontiac Grand Prix managed to smash up the car, and flip it over – then run like crazy away from it,” said neighbor Harold Andersen later that morning.

Members of the Portland Police SERT head into the neighborhood to begin their search.

In the wee hours of the morning, PPB Special Emergency Reaction Team (SERT) members rallied on SE Holgate Boulevard in the parking lot of “The Voice of Hope Christian Church” near SE 105^th Avenue, and prepared to go after two armed robbery suspects.

“The SERT officers [were called in because] the two robbery suspects were described as being armed with a knife and a handgun during the robbery,” Simpson said.

The SE 111^th Avenue is blocked to traffic at Holgate Boulevard while officers continue searching for suspects.

Going street by street, and yard by yard, SERT members and East Precinct officers scoured the neighborhood looking for the suspects that Simpson described as “one white male and one black male, both shorter in stature.”

At 7:29 a.m. police believed they’d captured one of the suspects, but that individual was soon released. At 8:01 a.m., the search was called off, with one suspect having gotten away.

UPDATE:

Awaiting extradition from Los Angeles for felony robbery and other charges is 27-year-old Jesus Mezick. MCDC booking photo

During the course of the investigation, PPB Robbery Detail detectives identified two suspects, one who they believed traveled to Southern California following the robbery. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for 27-year-old Jesus Mezick on Robbery in the First Degree, Robbery in the Second Degree, Theft in the First Degree and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

On Sunday July 9, 2017 members of the United States Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force arrested Mezick on the warrant. Mezick was booked into the Los Angeles County Jail and awaits extradition to the State of Oregon.

Detectives also obtained a search warrant for a residence near SE 88^th Avenue on SE Reedway Street, after learning the second suspect in the robbery resided at the location. SERT served the search warrant in the early morning hours of Thursday July 13.

Now in custody is 33-year-old Jamaar Abdul Smith, who faces felony robbery charges in connection with this crime. MCDC booking photo

During the service of the search warrant, 33-year-old Jamaar Abdul Smith was taken into custody, and booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) at 12:01 p.m. on July 13 on charges of Robbery in the First Degree, Robbery in the Second Degree, Theft in the First Degree and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.

After his arraignment, Smith continues to be lodged at MCDC in lieu of $510,000 bail.

Comments are closed.