JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – There's a neighborhood crime alert on Jacksonville's Southside, where surveillance cameras were rolling as a clerk jumped into action during an armed robbery Thursday at a liquor store.
Jennifer Arzt, 32, Edward Elliott, 38, and James Walls, 39, were arrested after police said they robbed Sahara Liquor Store on Beach Boulevard, prompting a chase shortly after.
Scott Brill, who witnessed the incident, told News4Jax he was glad he paid attention when he said he saw two men and one woman stealing from the liquor store because that wasn't the last time he saw them.
Security video showing a man stealing from the Sahara Liquor Store is just the beginning of what Brill said he eventually witnessed in the parking lot.
"As I was walking up, there was a big scuffle at the front door," Brill said.
According to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office report, Walls stuffed bottles of liquor in a backpack while Arzt distracted a clerk at the counter. In the surveillance video, the clerk can eventually be seen chasing Walls out of the store.
Once they were outside, police said, Elliott jumped out of a van, pointed a gun at the clerk and threatened to shoot him before driving away.
But before taking off, Brill got the vehicle's information.
"I was standing in front of him and he just jumped in the truck and I walked to the back of the van and took the tag number down," he said.
About an hour and a half after Brill got home, he said, he saw about four cop cars drive down Live Oak Drive, chasing the same vehicle he saw the suspects get in at the liquor store.
Brill said he couldn't sit back and watch the suspects get away.
"So I got in my truck and followed and went and chased them all the way," he said.
Investigators said the pursuit started when they found the stolen van at the Target store on Monument Road. The driver then took police down Regency Square Boulevard, then onto Live Oak Drive before heading back to Beach Boulevard, according to police.
After driving through a Raceway parking lot, police said, they followed the driver onto a dirt road off of Forest Boulevard, into a wooded area before the suspect vehicle got stuck in the lake.
Investigators said the suspects tried running from police, but were eventually arrested.
“I’m just glad that it ended without anybody getting hurt and that it ended and they got caught because these kids were on a mission," Brill said.
Brill said he’s just glad he could help police connect the crimes together.
The owners of the Sahara Liquor Store said fortunately, no one was hurt and the inventory lost is easily replaceable.