The second of two suspects in an armed robbery early today (Feb. 20) at an on-campus fraternity house remained at large at midafternoon. Campus police advised that the man — described as having "678" tattooed on his neck — should be considered armed and dangerous.
Police said the man and his male accomplice did not injure anyone physically in the robbery at about 2:15 a.m. today at the Nu Alpha Kappa house. It is on Parkway Circle near the northwest corner of La Rue and Orchard roads, kitty-corner from the Activities and Recreation Center.
According to police, the men committed the robbery after being asked to leave a party at the NAK house. Their getaway car never made it off Parkway Circle, crashing into a wooden fence at the La Rue Child Development Center less than a block from the fraternity.
Police said they nabbed one suspect at the crash site, and the other one got away on foot.
One of the men threw a gun over the daycare center's fence, police said, and officers recovered the weapon from the playground on the other side. Investigation revealed that this gun may not be the one that was used in the robbery, leading officers to consider the possibility of a second gun — and that the at-large suspect may have it.
University officials twice activated the WarnMe emergency notification system (read more about WarnMe below), sending out alerts via text, e-mail and voice messages. The first alert, around 9 a.m., advised that the robbery had occurred and that a gun had been recovered, and described the at-large suspect as a 20-year-old man with “678” tattooed on his neck.
The second alert came around 3:15 p.m., indicating that the man and the second gun had not been found — and that the man was possibly armed and dangerous.
Complete description
His complete description (beyond the information in the first WarnMe message): Hispanic in his mid-20s, about 5-foot-8 with a medium build, with the “678” neck tattoo, and wearing dark pants and a white, short-sleeve shirt with vertical red stripes.
Police are asking anyone who sees him to call 911. Anyone with information about him should call police at (530) 752-1230.
He and his suspected accomplice, Daniel Chavez, 19, of Soledad (Monterey County), are believed to be gang members, police said.
Officers booked Chavez at the Yolo County Jail on charges of conspiracy and committing a felony while on bail. He was not injured in the crash.
The suspects had arrived at the party as part of a group of men, all uninvited and unknown to the hosts, and started causing trouble, according to police. Outside, Chavez and the other suspect approached four men, two of them UC Davis students, produced a gun and robbed them, police said.
The suspects then stole a car — using a key that one of them had grabbed from a table inside the house, according to police. Officers said they recovered other stolen property at the crash site.
WarnMe
The university uses the WarnMe system to send emergency notifications via e-mail, voice and text messages to computers, phones and other devices that are included in the campus’s online directory, and, at your request, any other accounts, phones and devices on which you wish to receive such messages.
Officials are continually reminding people in the campus community to keep their WarnMe preferences up to date. Simply open the WarnMe website and click on “Edit my WarnMe information now!”
The website also offers instruction on configuring your computer's spam filters to accept WarnMe e-mails.
Media Resources
Dave Jones, Dateline, 530-752-6556, dljones@ucdavis.edu