East Brunswick Armed Robbery Over Sneakers, Police Report

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — An armed robbery, which ended up being with an imitation shotgun, occurred Monday over a Facebook-arranged sneaker sale in East Brunswick Township, police said. Police were called to the Crosspointe condo development a little after 5 p.m. on Monday for a 911 call of an armed robbery. The teenage victims told police they arranged to sell two pairs of sneakers to a man they met on Facebook, and they planned to meet him in the area of Crosspointe Drive.

Upon arriving at Crosspointe Drive, the teens met two individuals and let them inspect the sneakers. The men then stole the sneakers and fled on foot through the complex. While chasing the two men, the victims were confronted by three additional individuals, two of whom pointed both a black semi-automatic handgun at the victim, as well as another weapon, which was described as a black long gun.

A witness told police he saw the teens running towards a certain condo in the development, which is where one of the suspects lived, police said.

Six people in total were arrested, five of whom are juveniles. The juveniles and the adult, Altareik Johnson-Taylor, 19, of South River, were charged with robbery and weapons charges. The sneakers were recovered, as was a black pump action imitation shotgun during the investigation.