'Violent Robbery, Attack' At Peninsula 7-Eleven Reported

SAN MATEO, CA — Two men were jailed over the weekend after their arrests in connection with "the violent attack and robbery" of a 7-Eleven store Saturday that left a sales clerk with serious injuries, San Mateo police said.

Police were called about 4:30 a.m. Saturday to the 7-Eleven store at 600 E. Third Ave., and found the store clerk lying on the ground. The clerk was taken to a nearby hospital; police viewed security camera footage and broadcast descriptions of the two robbery suspects, police said.

Officers searching the area went to a second convenience store and gas station on Fourth Avenue a block from the 7-Eleven; as the officer walked in, a clerk there was calling police to report a man causing a disturbance.

Police tried to detain that man, 21-year-old Melton Nau of San Leandro, who matched the description of one suspect on the 7-Eleven video. Police said Nau attacked an officer trying to detain him, but that he was eventually subdued and identified as a suspect in the earlier robbery.

At about 11:45 p.m. Sunday, police tracked the second suspect to the 1200 block of Polk Street in San Francisco. The suspect, identified as Talia Opeti, 18, of Hayward, was arrested there without incident. Opeti had a loaded (and stolen) firearm in his possession, police said.

Nau was arrested on suspicion of robbery (7-Eleven), attempted robbery (at the second convenience store), assault with great bodily injury, criminal threats, resisting arrest and conspiracy.

Opeti was arrested on suspicion of robbery, assault with great bodily injury, carrying a concealed weapon, being a felon in possession of a firearm and conspiracy. Both were booked into the San Mateo County Jail.

— By Bay City News Service / Patch file photo by Renee Schiavone