Formal charges filed in weekend attempted robbery at Hoover McDonald's
Hoover police have obtained arrest warrants for two individuals in connection to Sunday's attempted robbery at a Hoover McDonald's.
Blake Edward Fitzgerald and Brittany Nicole Harper of Joplin, Missouri, have been charged with first-degree robbery. There is no bond on these charges.
The attempted robbery occurred around 7:45 a.m. Sunday in the parking lot of the McDonald’s at 1731 Montgomery Highway in Hoover. A manager reported she was approached by a man with a handgun as she was exiting her car. The suspect demanded cash and the victim’s car keys, according to police.
The victim threw her keys on the ground, yelled for help and ran toward the McDonald's.
The suspect and a woman left the area in a blue Volkswagen Jetta with a New Jersey license plate. Police report about 15 minutes later, the same suspect in the blue Jetta committed a home-invasion robbery in Vestavia Hills.
"Vestavia Hills P.D. detectives uncovered crucial information that provided Hoover investigators with the identity of both suspects," Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector said in a news release.
Vestavia Hills police responded to the home-invasion report around 7:58 a.m. When they arrived at the home, the husband reported a white man had entered his home through the garage. The suspect said he was having car trouble, then pulled a gun and demanded the keys to the family's car, according to police. The suspect also reportedly forced the victim's wife into the car, a 2010 silver Ford Edge, and they were joined by a white female accomplice.
After taking the car, the suspects reportedly drove east on U.S. 280, dropped the victim off at Grandview Medical Center's emergency room entrance. She flagged down a passerby who brought her back home.
Vestavia HIlls police obtained warrants for Fitzgerald and Harper. Charges for Fitzgerald include one count of first-degree burglary, one count first-degree kidnapping and one count of first-degree theft of property. Charges for Harper are first-degree kidnapping and first-degree theft of property. There is no bond on any of the charges.
The pair has also been linked to an abduction that occurred in Tuscaloosa earlier Sunday, according to Hoover police. Detectives learned that the Jetta used in the attempted robbery in Hoover was stolen during another robbery that occurred in Tuscaloosa.
The victim, a male motel employee, was robbed at gunpoint Sunday morning, forced into his own vehicle and then driven to the Hoover area, police said. The victim was reportedly in the Jetta during the attempted robbery and was found unharmed in Vestavia Hills.
Hoover police ask that anyone with information on Fitzgerald and Harper call 911 and advise there are felony warrants in Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties.