Two men who allegedly robbed the Merrick RadioShack at gunpoint and subsequently crashed their vehicle while attempting to flee the scene, shutting down Merrick Road for most of Saturday, are in custody.
According to detectives, Samuel Johnson, 19, and Jody Odonoghue, 21, both of Bay Shore, entered the RadioShack store located at 1690 Sunrise Highway in Merrick and issued demands while displaying handgun. A store employee and customer were forced into a back room of the store. They were apparently interrupted when a second RadioShack employee entered the store.
The two men took an unknown quantity of electronic merchandise and were observed fleeing in a 1996 Ford Explorer traveling southbound on Babylon Turnpike at an extremely high rate of speed, police said.
Detectives then said that the vehicle struck a traffic control box at the intersection of Babylon Turnpike and Merrick Road and attempted to flee. The two were promptly apprehended, identified and arrested.
Johnson and Odonoghue are being charged with two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, robbery in the first degree, criminal use of a firearm in the first degree and robbery in the second degree.
They will be arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on Sunday.
The arrest information was supplied by the Nassau County Police Department; it does not indicate a conviction.
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