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Berkeley police arrested two suspects Tuesday night for a pair of armed robberies and believe the suspects may be connected to a series of recent robberies in Berkeley and Oakland. 

Berkeley Police Lt. Russell Lopes said two males, ages 15 and 16, from Richmond were arrested Tuesday night after two armed robberies occurred in the area south of the UC Berkeley campus.  

Lopes said robbery detectives have considered the possibility that the suspects are linked to two other robberies that occurred in Berkeley last weekend as well as “a couple dozen” robberies in Berkeley and Oakland over the last two months. 

“We are confident that they are responsible for a whole slew of robberies,” Lopes said. 

Lopes said the two suspects confronted three people in their late teens at the corner of Channing Way and Fulton Street on Tuesday night at 8:45 p.m. He said they produced what appeared to be hand guns. The suspects allegedly took everything in the victims’ pockets and fled by foot. While running from the area, Lopes said the suspects confronted a 20-year-old woman in front of 2404 Fulton St., drew their guns on her and robbed her. Witnesses saw the suspects then get into a white car, Lopes said. 

Officer Hugh Salas was patrolling the area and saw a white vehicle driving without its lights on before the robberies were reported. He pulled the car over for vehicle code violation without knowing of the robberies. While Salas was talking to the two men in the car, the robberies were reported to the police department and came over Salas’ radio. 

The suspects were arrested and taken into custody, where they remain while detectives examine other recent robberies. Upon inspection of the guns, they were found to be replicas of semi-automatic hand guns. 

Lopes said the men could be responsible for two consecutive robberies that occurred on Monday night in Berkeley and another the previous day. 

At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, two men robbed a Domino’s Pizza delivery man at gun point. The victim had just completed a delivery when he was confronted by three males while returning to his car. Two of the suspects are described as black males in their early 20s, average height and build. About 30 minutes later a UC Berkeley student walking home was confronted by three people who fit the same description, less than four blocks away from the previous hold up. Similarly, two of the suspects held the student at gunpoint while the third took his belongings. 

Two pedestrians were approached by two suspects at Shattuck Avenue and Bancroft Way on Sunday at 2:30 a.m. The suspects both drew guns and took the victims’ wallets before fleeing by foot. That robbery is also being linked to Tuesday’s arrests.