Naugatuck Police Solve Armed Robbery, Suspect Put Gun To the Victim's Head

On September 6, 2014 at about 10:15 PM Naugatuck Police officers were dispatched to the parking lot of the Big Y Store located on Bridge Street on a report of an armed robbery of two people, police said in a press release.

The victims reported that they were robbed just after 10 PM while walking to their vehicles parked in the Big Y parking lot near the Dollar Store, police said.

The victims stated that while walking to their cars the suspect quickly pulled up next to them and parked. The suspect then exited his vehicle displaying a handgun and demanded their valuables, police said.

The victims complied and gave the suspect their wallets and cash. During the robbery, one of the victims stated they did not have any cash on them and the suspect put the gun to the side of the victims head and demanded both of the victims ID’s, police said.

The suspect then told both victims to leave. Both victims stated they got into their cars and left and immediately contacted the police. A description of the suspect and suspect vehicle was provided to officers by the victims.

Approximately 30 minutes after the robbery occurred, a Naugatuck police officer who had just gone off duty driving his personal vehicle noticed a car matching the description of the suspects’ vehicle parked in the Express Mart Gas Station on Route 63 near Porter Avenue.

The officer also observed a male matching the description of the suspect outside the vehicle and noticed he was fixing a flat tire on the car.

The officer drove by the car in an attempt to get a plate number and asked the male if he needed any help. The officer advised that the male pulled out a handgun and pointed it at him and stated “I’m fine”. The officer pulled away and out of sight of the male and radioed in for additional assistance, police said.

The officer then re-approached the male on foot with on-duty units and took the suspect into custody. Upon taking the suspect into custody, Officers recovered cash and the ID’s of both Big Y store victims. Officers also recovered a facsimile handgun on the suspect that closely resembled a real handgun.

The suspect was identified as Michael Lopez of Waterbury. Lopez remains in custody and is being held on a $250,000.00 Bond.