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Third Man Charged in Walgreens Heist
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a third man has been indicted for his role in a conspiracy that included at least 10 armed robberies, culminating in the armed robbery of a Walgreens in Blue Springs, Mo., which resulted in a fourth suspect being fatally shot by law enforcement officers.
Shannon R. Thomas, 26, of Shawnee, Kan., and Deonte J. Collins-Abbott, 21, and Parrise K. Black, also known as “Kilo,” 24, both of Grandview, Mo., were charged in a 22-count superseding indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon Black’s arrest and initial court appearance. The superseding indictment replaces the original indictment that was returned on April 20, 2016, and adds Black as a co-defendant.
Thomas and Collins-Abbott have been in federal custody without bond since their arrests on March 24, 2016. Black remains in federal custody pending a detention hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016.
The federal indictment alleges that Thomas, Collins-Abbott and Black participated in a conspiracy to commit a series of armed robberies between Jan. 2 and March 24, 2016.
In addition to the conspiracy, Thomas and Collins-Abbott are charged together with the armed robbery of the Walgreens located at 9th and Duncan in Blue Springs on March 24, 2016. They are also charged together with possessing and brandishing a firearm in relation to that crime. Thomas is also charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Thomas allegedly possessed a Springfield Armory semi-automatic pistol on March 24, 2016.
According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, law enforcement officers were conducting surveillance that day on Thomas and Collins-Abbott as part of an investigation into a series of armed robberies at businesses in Independence, Mo., Raytown, Mo., North Kansas City, Mo., Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan. In all of these robberies, the affidavit says, the suspects consistently displayed handguns in a threatening manner and behaved in a violent and aggressive fashion physically toward their victims (including shooting one victim at the Conoco located at 4656 Prospect Ave., Kansas City, Mo., on March 15, 2016). The robberies appear to have been committed consistently by at least four suspects, the affidavit says, who appear in surveillance video in most of the incidents.
On March 24, 2016, according to the affidavit, Thomas, Collins-Abbot and Jermon Seals of Shawnee, Kan., confronted a Walgreens employee outside the business and forced the employee inside at gunpoint. Once inside, the affidavit says, one of the robbers placed a firearm to the back of the employee’s head and took money from the front register. The other two robbers went over the pharmacy counter and took prescription grade cough syrup at gunpoint from the pharmacist. They left the business but were confronted by law enforcement officers as they were walking back to the vehicle. They failed to comply with the officers’ commands, according to the affidavit, and turned towards the officers, pointing a gun in their direction. Officers returned fire and Seals was struck in the exchange. Collins-Abbott and Thomas were apprehended by officers after a short foot pursuit.
Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Category: Violent Crime|Weapons
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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