Chase that started with 4 El Paso store robberies ends with arrests of 5 in New Mexico

Five teens are in the custody of the Otero County Sheriff’s Department after allegedly robbing four stores in El Paso and then leading law enforcement on a 90-mile-an-hour chase that ended about half way to Alamogordo, New Mexico.

Otero County Sheriff Benny House told ABC-7 that there were five suspects in the vehicle that were arrested on US 54 — four males and one female.

All are 14 and 15 years old.

“All of the juveniles will be detained in a juvenile detention facility authorized by the district attorney’s office in coordination with juvenile authorities in Otero county,” Scot Key, Otero Co. prosecutor, told ABC-7. “They will be incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility some place in New Mexico where we have a contract, maybe in Otero or Dona Ana county.

The teens will have their first appearance before a judge in Alamogordo.

There may be a decision in the future to take all of the crimes in one jurisdiction and prosecute them. It depends on the availability of witnesses, where the juveniles live and other factors that become important during the investigation, Key said.

An El Paso Police spokesman said the first robbery happened shortly after 1 p.m. Wednesday at 7-11 on Hondo Pass.

Shortly after 3 p.m., there were three East Side robberies, including a Burger King, Howdy’s convenience store, and another store in a strip mall. Police say it appears the doors and windows of the McRae convenience were smashed with pellets from a pellet gun.

After the Howdy’s robbery, police put out a be-on-the-lookout alert for the suspects in a red vehicle.

El Paso Police caught up to the group in Northeast El Paso when one of the suspects allegedly showed a gun to police.

That’s when a 90-mile-an-hour chase began on US 54 that ended more than 40 miles into New Mexico.

House says the SUV the five teens were traveling in was reported stolen on Tuesday by the mother of one of the teens.

The chase lasted so long because the driver avoided spike strips that were thrown on the road at separate times.

House says once the teens were stopped, two of them tried to run away into the desert but were caught.

ABC-7 spoke with people who saw the chase. Look for complete coverage of this story on ABC-7 at 9 on the CW and ABC-7 at 10.