HOUSTON – Tips from KPRC 2 viewers led to the arrest of a suspect wanted for robbing a man in southwest Houston. The incident was caught on camera.
The robbery happened on Oct. 14 in the 10300 block of Wilcrest.
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The victim said he was coming home from night classes when he heard footsteps behind him as he walked up the stairs to his apartment. Surveillance video shows another man run up with a gun and point it at the victim's head.
"He knows at that point, somebody's coming up the stairs that, obviously, is going to attack or harm him," Houston Police Department robbery investigator Kim Miller said.
The victim's personal surveillance camera mounted on his front door captured what happened next as the robber told the 34-year-old victim to look away as he forced the man to the ground and demanded his wallet.
"I think he watched my victim walk up the stairs and he knew. It looked like he premeditated the whole thing, and he was just waiting for someone to come home late," Miller said.
Acting on a Crime Stoppers tip after KPRC 2 and Click2Houston.com first aired the story, police identified the robber as 27-year-old Jeffrey Johnson. Johnson had tattoos on his arm, which were described to police. He was arrested on Tuesday.
"Through the whole incident, he's smoking a cigarette. And also, his face isn't covered. This is fairly good surveillance video of him," said Miller.
The video was recorded with a small, inexpensive camera.
"They're very small. I really don't think that this suspect knew that he was being video recorded. It's a great tool for us to be able to catch people," Miller said.