SAN FRANCISCO— The San Francisco Police Department arrested Necho N. Goins, 26, for armed robbery on Thursday, February 18 at 6:50 p.m. on Van Ness Avenue and Willow Street in San Francisco.
The authorities said in a press release that Goins went into a hardware store on February 18 around 5:05 p.m. on the 2000 block of Market Street and demanded people to give him money.
Goins displayed a semi-automatic firearm, and authorities said he “manipulated the slide of the firearm as if chambering a round.”
“During the interaction, the suspect put the gun away and brandished a collapsible baton. When one of the victims yelled out for another employee to help, the suspect fled the store. The victims did not surrender any money and they were not injured,” noted authorities.
Goins was caught committing the armed robbery on a surveillance camera and the police said they distributed a picture of Goins around the San Francisco Police Department. Shortly afterward, police said that one of their investigators was looking at the picture of Goins and recognized him as a suspect of a previous crime that occurred on October 29, 2020.
“An investigator saw the crime alert for the robbery and realized the subject was similar in appearance to the suspect wanted in connection with the grand theft of a diamond ring from a pawnshop on the 2400 block of Mission Street on October 29, 2020,” the police explained.
Two hours after the armed robbery at the hardware store, police from the Northern Station Street Crimes Unit indicated they noticed a man that matched Goins’ description around the 800 block of Eddy Street.
Officers said they were able to detain Goins on Van Ness Avenue and Willow Street.
“Through the course of an investigation, the subject was identified as the robbery suspect from the hardware store. Officers seized a replica semiautomatic firearm from his waistband, and a collapsible baton from his pant pocket,” said the authorities.
Goins, of San Francisco, was sent to San Francisco County Jail for seven counts of second-degree robbery, which carries a possible state prison sentence of 2, 3, or 5 years if convicted.
The San Francisco authorities also booked Goins on three counts of grand theft of personal property, one count of possession of a deadly weapon, possession of burglary tools, unlawful display of an imitation firearm, exhibiting a deadly weapon, and first-degree robbery.
Goins is being held without bail, and his next court date is on March 12, 9:00 a.m.
