Two sought after heist in mall, carjacking

By Heather Allen, Globe Correspondent, 8/29/2003

BRAINTREE -- A manhunt was launched last night for two masked gunmen who allegedly robbed a credit union at the South Shore Plaza, fled in two stolen cars, then carjacked another vehicle before eluding police on foot.

About 70 officers combed the area for more than two hours but failed to find the men.

The robbery and its aftermath, which triggered massive traffic tie-ups on the Southeast Expressway and Route 128 and temporarily shut down portions of the MBTA's Red Line, began around 6 p.m. when the gunmen, wearing bandanas around their faces, robbed the Telephone Workers Credit Union at the mall, Braintree police Lieutenant Russell Jenkins said.

No one was injured in the robbery, in which the men took an undisclosed amount of cash.

The suspects then got into a stolen car in the mall parking lot and drove a short distance from the mall to another car they had taken from the shopping center earlier in the day, Jenkins said.

The suspects abandoned the second car in a residential area and carjacked a pickup truck, police said. The truck's driver was not injured, Jenkins said.

The suspects abandoned the truck near the Washington Street off-ramp of Route 128 at the Route 3 interchange, and then began waving their guns around, attempting to stop other motorists, Jenkins said. WHDH-TV reported that the suspects climbed into a woman's car, which was then blocked by a man in another pick-up truck. That driver, Mark Bradley, identified by police as an off-duty court officer, told WHDH-TV last night that he attempted to stop the alleged suspects.

"I took my truck and rammed her car and then it ran into the guardrail, so they couldn't drive away; and then they got out of the car and had the gun pointed at me the whole time and then ran down the highway."

Holly Simpson of Brockton said she was driving nearby when the gunmen ran toward her car waving their weapons. "I pulled up as they were running away," she said. "I saw this guy running toward me with a gun. He was blatantly holding his gun, running down the highway."

When no drivers gave up their vehicles, police said the men ran onto the MBTA tracks between the Quincy Adams and Braintree Red Line stations, with officers and police dogs giving chase. Red Line service from Quincy Adams to Braintree was halted, but the MBTA bused commuters and service was not seriously affected, officials said.

Meanwhile, the dogs lost track of the suspects' scents near a wooded area by a Home Depot and behind the Quincy Adams parking garage.

Officers responding included those from Weymouth, Needham, Randolph, Franklin, the Norfolk County Sheriff's Department, and MBTA and State police.

Authorities emptied both the Home Depot and the garage and swept though both structures with heavily armed officers and dogs, Jenkins said. By 8:45 p.m., police scaled back the search.

The men are armed and dangerous, Jenkins said at a news conference last night. "I wouldn't say they were professionals. They certainly had a plan. After they got rid of the second car, it all broke down," he said. "This is a very dangerous, very serious crime that put many people at risk. These are very desperate men."

Michael Rosenwald of the Globe staff and correspondent Jared Stearns contributed to this report.