Robbers target delivery drivers in Oklahoma City
CRIMEPOLICE SAY RECENT FATAL SHOOTING SERVES AS AN EXAMPLE OF INCREASE IN VIOLENCE

BY JOHNNY JOHNSON

Published: November 14, 2008

About the same time pizza delivery driver Jeremy Moore was shot and killed last week in a robbery at a sparsely populated apartment complex, a Chinese-food delivery driver was hit over the head, robbed and held hostage at a vacant apartment seven miles away.

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While police do not believe the two crimes are related, the incidents serve as an indicator of a trend in robberies across Oklahoma City.

Capt. Steve McCool said police have noticed a spike in robberies of delivery drivers in the past month or so. And while crime trends are not uncommon, the causes are sometimes difficult to determine.

"Last year, we kind of had a spike where individuals were robbing Hispanics,” McCool said.

"They were approaching them in apartment complexes and all different places at night.”

Moore was shot and killed about 7 p.m. Nov. 7 while delivering two pizzas to the Lantana Apartments on NW 10 between Rockwell and Council Road.

That was about the same time Hamdi Marouane, a delivery driver for China Flavor on NW 23, received an order for an abandoned apartment at 6540 W Wilshire. When he arrived, he was shoved inside by a black male with a red, hooded jacket covering his face and then hit on the head with a pipe-like object by two more people.

McCool said it’s logical to assume a job that puts you in contact with different kinds of people, especially late at night in different areas, can be a dangerous profession.

"There was a time when everybody knew being a store clerk could be a dangerous profession to be in,” he said. "There are just certain places where there is more of a chance for robberies to occur.”

In Maroune’s case, the suspects turned out to be teenagers with a gun and a poorly executed plan, authorities said.

Once he was shoved inside the abandoned apartment, Marouane was held at gunpoint and told to take off his clothes, hand over his car keys, cell phone and cash ($60), and to get into a closet, where he was barricaded while the suspects made their getaway, according to a police report.

When the delivery driver broke free, his car was missing and he ran to another house to call police.

Police traced the phone number used to make the order and arrested 14-year-old Marion Cooper and 12-year-old Tremayne Rogers, police said.

Both were arrested on complaints of robbery with a dangerous weapon and kidnapping and taken to a juvenile detention site.