At 5:16 AM on October 24, 2019, APD responded to the Village Inn at 1130 E Northern Lights in reference to a robbery. Initial indications are that the adult male suspect entered the restaurant and proceeded to pay for and eat slices of pie.  The suspect then approached the cashier and ordered another slice.  The employee was in the process of ringing up the pie when the suspect produced a knife and demanded money from the register.  When the employee saw her coworker, she shouted, “He’s got a knife.”  When she did so the suspect ran out of the restaurant without taking anything.  There were no injuries.
 
The suspect fled the area on foot.  Officers arrived, set up a perimeter, and a K9 track was conducted but the suspect was not located.  After reviewing surveillance footage and conducting further follow-up, officers were able to identify the suspect as being 27-year-old Joseph M. A. Tunilla. 

 
While the officer was in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for Tunilla, a call came in to Dispatch at 9:20 AM from a citizen reporting a vehicle prowler checking the door handles of parked cars.  An officer responded to the corner of A Street and Northern Lights and located the suspect; he matched the physical description of the robbery suspect from Village Inn a few hours prior.  The officer made contact with the individual who was positively identified as Tunilla.  He was arrested and remanded at the Anchorage Jail on the charges of Robbery I, Assault III, and Violation of Conditions of Release.

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