About 5:31PM yesterday, officers from District D-4 (South End) responded to 225 Massachusetts Ave. for a robbery in progress. En route, officers were advised that the suspect, an older male wearing a blue t-shirt, had brandished a gun during the robbery and fled onto Massachusetts Avenue.
On arrival, officers received further description of the suspect as having blonde hair, and the fact that he had fled the area in the company of a second suspect wearing a green polo shirt and blue jeans cutting through the Symphony parking lot. Based on this description and the direction of flight, other responding units stopped two individuals matching the suspects’ descriptions on Gainsborough St. between Huntington Ave. and St. Botolph Streets. The two suspects were positively identified by a witness and the victim and they were subsequently placed under arrest.
Officers then spoke to the victim and learned that the suspect walked into the store and stated to the victim, “Give me the money!” The victim at this time was speaking to the store owner and simply put the phone down leaving the line open while the suspect again exclaimed, “Give me all the money now!” The victim opened the drawer after the suspect pulled up his shirt and displayed a gun in his waistband. The suspect reached in the cash register drawer, grabbed the money and fled out of the store where he was met by suspect #2 who was outside the store waiting.
The owner who was nearby the store when the robbery was taking place was able to see the suspects as they fled the area and followed them to the parking lot behind Symphony Hall. There, the suspect who did the actual robbery was observed changing his shirt and fleeing up an alley on Gainsborough Street where he lost sight of the suspects. A short distance later the two suspects were stopped by responding units and placed under arrest after they were positively identified.
The suspects, James Travis, 41 of Boston and Paul R. Whooten, 47 of Roslindale were placed under arrest and charged with Armed Robbery. Search of the main suspect after arrests revealed that the item that he had displayed as a gun in his waist was only a garden hose nozzle covered with electrical tape. The stolen money was also recovered from the suspect.