Charges Filed Against Rochester AT&T Store Robbery Suspects
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - Conditional bail was set at $50,000 each for the two men accused of a robbery at a Rochester business last night during which an employee was stabbed in the leg.
26-year-old Ahmed Abdulqadir Ali and 20-year-old Bilal Ali Hilowle were both arraigned today in Olmsted County Court on first-degree aggravated robbery charges. They are accused of barging their way into the AT&T cell phone store near the Crossroads Hy-Vee location while the employees of the business were closing for the day at around 8:30 PM.
According to the criminal complaint, Rochester police officers were dispatched to the store after a regional manager called and stated that a break-in was occurring and was visible on the store surveillance cameras. Once officers arrived at the scene, the store manager indicated he had been robbed by two black males dressed in all black who had fled from the store. The responding officers also spotted another employee lying in the office of the store with a large laceration to his calf area.
The store manager told the officers that he heard someone entering numbers of the keypad at the rear door to the building. When he got up to see what was happening, he spotted the two suspects coming towards him and noticed one of them had a knife. The court document says the store manager was ordered into the bathroom, get on his knees, and remove his phone.
He indicated the robber with a knife then slid the blade in front of his mouth and told him not to talk. After the other employee told the robbers he did not have the code to the store's safe, one of the robbers took the manager into the safe room and ordered him to open it. The store manager told police he complied, but then told the robbers that the safe has a feature that requires a 10 minute waiting period before the door actually opens.
The manager says he then pointed out a box of used and returned phones to the robbers, and while they were rummaging through the box, he was able to lock himself in the safe room. The criminal complaint says that left the other store employee alone with the robbers in the hallway. A few minutes later, the other employee came into the safe room and told the manager that he had been stabbed. Rochester police reported the worker suffered a large laceration during a struggle with the robbers.
Both suspects were later captured after responding officers spotted them nearby in the parking lot of the Crossroads Shopping Center. The court document says Ahmed was apprehended after he was found hiding near some trees, while Bilal Hilowe was arrested outside the nearby Andy's Liquor Store.
The criminal complaint says a fixed blade knife that appeared to have blood on it was found outside the door to the AT&T store, where a number of cell phones and a smartwatch were also located. Two bags containing cell phones were also found in the trash at a nearby laundromat business.
Hilowe and Ali are due back in court next month.
More Minnesota News:
- Woman Ordered to Prison For Rochester Area Man's OD Death
- MN Man Accused of Fleeing Trooper at over 100mph in Stolen Car
- Rochester Police Investigators Find Thousands of Child Porn Files
More From KROC-AM
