Police nab 2 in crawlspace above holdup scene

The cheers erupted shortly before 5:30 p.m. as the two men were brought from McCann’s Liquors on South Union Street. Lawrence police said they had found the pair in a crawlspace in an apartment above the store. After the suspects robbed the store shortly after noon, they saw police arrive and fled upstairs, police said.

“They weren’t going to wait us out,’’ Police Chief John Romero said in a phone interview after the ordeal ended. “I don’t know what their thought process was.’’

While being booked last night, Romero said, the suspects gave what police believe to be false names, and one claimed to be 29, while the other claimed to be 43. Police expect to determine their real names and ages today, he said.

He said police recovered a large amount of cash from the crawlspace, and authorities believe it was stolen from the store.

Romero said the owner of the store, whom relatives and witnesses identified as Arturo Taveras, 67, suffered head injuries during the episode and his condition was “pretty serious.’’ Taveras, who lives in the apartment above the store where the men were hiding out, told police that he was hit in the head with a gun brandished by one of the men. Both men, he said, were carrying guns.

An employee and a customer were also in the store at the time of the robbery, Romero said.

All three were beaten to varying degrees, but no one was shot, Romero said. He said authorities were looking into whether Taveras had fired a round of bullets during the incident. Three shotguns were recovered from the store, all of them belonging to the owner, but police were searching for a revolver owned by Taveras that they believe may have been stashed in the crawlspace by the two men.

“It is shocking,’’ Taveras’s son, Irving, said at the scene, minutes after the two suspects were brought out of the building.

He said his father had been taken to a Boston hospital and he had not had a chance to speak with him.

Police were called to the store after one person inside was able to flee and flagged a passing motorist, Romero said.

Authorities arrived “within seconds,’’ around the time two armed men emerged from the store, according to Romero.

The suspects ran back into the store, he said, and tried to exit through a back door, but encountered a locked gate. The men reentered the store and bound the hands of one of the victims with duct tape, according to Romero.

Two police officers were lifted by Fire Department apparatus to the roof of the building, to determine whether the suspects had any chance of escaping through the top floor, Romero said.

Police learned there was a crawlspace above the liquor store, which includes a sealed-off stairwell. They started breaking through sheetrock, calling out to the men several times in English and Spanish, Romero said.

Police eventually saw the two men through the hole officers had made and dragged the suspects out, he said.

Charlie Acevedo, 34, works as a barber across the street at Camilo’s Barber Shop. He said Taveras and his employee, a man in his 30s, were let out of the store at about 12:20 p.m.

Both men were bleeding heavily from the head, and the employee’s arms and legs were bound by duct tape, Acevedo said. Both men were conscious and placed into a waiting ambulance, he said.

Acevedo said four customers were stuck inside the barber shop for several hours during the standoff and as many as 20 patrons were in the store when police responded.

Dozens of onlookers gathered at the scene. Some said Taveras is well-regarded in the community.

Joseph Chiarenza, a Lawrence resident, stood watching the scene unfold behind yellow police tape, binoculars in hand. Taveras is “a nice, quiet guy,’’ he said.

David Arlitt, who lives a few blocks away, said he was on a walk through the neighborhood when he saw the flashing police lights and watched as police crouched with guns pointed at the liquor store.

The two suspects are scheduled to be arraigned on a slew of charges today at Lawrence District Court.

Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com; Emma Stickgold at e_stickgold@globe.com.