Six Suspects Arrested For String of Terrifying East Bay Robberies

Investigators have arrested several suspects who they believe might be connected to a series of armed robberies throughout the East Bay, including the high-profile robbery and shooting of an Orinda school board
member last week.

"The Contra Costa County District Attorney's task force has made arrests and believe they are related or involved in the Orinda case," Orinda police Chief Mark Nagel said in an email.

The county's task force arrested six people for home invasion robberies that took place in Danville, Livermore and Fremont, said Deputy District Attorney Barry Grove.

Grove did not provide additional information on the arrests, citing the ongoing investigation.

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Investigators from several law enforcement agencies will meet Wednesday to "compare notes" in an effort to determine if the crimes might be related, Antioch police Sgt. Tom Fuhrmann said.

Of the six robberies that police have been reported since Sept. 26, all of them involved two armed men who approached their victims just after they had pulled up to their homes or into their own driveways. In two
of the cases, the suspects were spotted driving off in a white sedan and twice the suspects shot at their victims.

The shootings occurred in Pinole on Sept. 27, where the husband and wife victims weren't hit by gunfire, and in Orinda, where school board vice president Carol Brown was shot and her husband, Tom Spalding, was
pistol-whipped during the Sept. 26 attack. Both victims are expected to recover.

The other robberies occurred in Antioch, Pittsburg and an unincorporated area of Danville on Sept. 28, and in Brentwood on Sept. 29.

Related:

• Orinda Investigators Searching Video For Suspects Who Shot School Board VP
• Update: Woman Shot Twice, Man Pistol-Whipped in Orinda Robbery
• Shots Fired at Pinole Couple in Front of Their Own Home
• Man Carjacked From His Danville Garage; Suspects Lead Deputies On High-Speed Chase Through County
• Fremont Police Release Surveillance Footage of Recent Break-In Suspects

— Bay City News; Image by Renee Schiavone, Patch