OCEAN CITY — A Cambridge man was charged with armed robbery and first-degree assault last weekend after allegedly holding up two other men with a handgun at a midtown condo.
Around 10 a.m. last Sunday, Ocean City Police responded to the area of Bayview Lane for a reported armed robbery that had already occurred. The officer met with two victims who told police they had met an individual, later identified as Brandon Fooks, 24, and had been hanging out with Fooks and some of their friends for about an hour when Fooks offered to sell one of the victims some tennis shoes.
The victim told police Fooks drove him and his friend to a condo building in the ocean block at 63rd Street. Fooks told one of the victims to wait in the car while he went inside with the other victim to get the tennis shoes. Once Fooks and the first victim were in an elevator inside the condo building, Fooks allegedly pulled out a dark-colored handgun and pointed it at the victim’s head.
The victim said he attempted to take the handgun from Fooks and the two fought briefly in the elevator before Fooks subdued the victim by striking him in the face with the handgun. The victim told police Fooks then racked the slide on the handgun and told the victim “give me the stuff in your pockets or I’m going to shoot you,” according to police reports.
The victim told police he complied with Fooks’ demands and handed over somewhere between $200 and $500 in cash because he was not certain how much money he had on him at the time, along with an Invicta watch valued at $1,000 and a cell phone valued at $500.
The victim told police Fooks then ordered him to walk south in the alley along the condo building with his hands in the air and he complied with the demands. According to police reports, the victim had an injury on his right cheek bone consistent with being struck by a handgun.
The second victim told police while he was waiting near the car, Fooks approached him and raised his shirt to display a handgun in his waistband. The victim told police Fooks ordered him to empty his pockets and the victim complied, turning over $4 in cash and a pack of cigarettes.
The victims told police Fooks then got back in his vehicle, a maroon Chrysler 200, and drove away. The two victims then walked south to their condo unit and called police.
Fooks was later found and charged with armed robbery, first- and second-degree assault and various theft and weapons charges. As of mid-week he was being held on a $150,000 bond.
