Alleged serial knifepoint robber held with out bail in Boston

Crime

Staff at a Dorchester Dunkin’ informed police that the suspect ordered a sandwich and a drink earlier than brandishing two massive knives from his backpack.

A Mattapan man was ordered held with out bail Wednesday in Boston after prosecutors mentioned he dedicated a sequence of armed robberies in Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain.

Akeem A. Lahens, 32, was arraigned within the Dorchester division of Boston Municipal Court docket on prices of armed theft and three counts of kidnapping, in keeping with a launch from the Suffolk County District Lawyer’s workplace.

A decide deemed him harmful and ordered him held with out bail till a possible trigger listening to on June 8.

In line with the DA’s workplace, Boston police responded to a report of an armed theft on the Dunkin’ at 1508 Dorchester Ave. in Dorchester on Could 4 round 8 p.m. The suspect, who authorities later recognized as Lahens, had fled the scene earlier than they arrived.

Prosecutors mentioned the victims, all workers of the shop, informed police that the suspect ordered a sandwich and a drink earlier than brandishing two massive knives from his backpack, leaping over-the-counter, and demanding that one of many workers open the register.

Lahens allegedly mentioned “In case you don’t open the register, I’m going to kill you” after which ordered all three workers into the shop’s lavatory.

One of many workers referred to as 911 after they exited the lavatory, the DA’s workplace mentioned.

Video surveillance, which confirmed Lahens pacing forwards and backwards whereas watching the shop’s entrance, and the descriptions given by victims matched the outline of a suspect in a number of armed robberies over the previous a number of weeks, prosecutors mentioned.

Lahens is dealing with extra prices for related incidents in Roxbury and Jamaica Plain, which additionally concerned using two massive knives, the DA’s workplace mentioned.

“We’re even handed in our requests for dangerousness hearings however these hearings are vital in situations like this,” Suffolk County District Lawyer Kevin Hayden mentioned in an announcement. “Our overarching purpose is to guard the neighborhood. I’m relieved that these victims weren’t bodily harm and this particular person has been apprehended.”