An unidentified victim was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and two suspects, later identified as 21-year-old John W. Tauanu’u and 21-year-old Makiu J. Tovio were remanded to jail on charges that included robbery and assault following questioning on Wednesday morning, APD announced.

APD dispatch was alerted to a robbery that took place in the parking lot of McDonald’s at Tudor and Folker at 4:47 am on Wednesday morning and officers responded to initiate an investigation. When officers contacted the victim they were informed that the two suspects approached him and gave him food and engaged in conversation before getting out of their silver Dodge van.

The victim said that then the suspects struck him several times before stealing items from him. The victim told police that he was able to make good his escape and run to a nearby apartment complex where he hid in a stairwell. The victim was able to flag down another driver that called in the incident to police.

Prior to police arrival, the suspects drove into the apartment building’s parking lot and the victim saw the passenger, Tovio, with his arm hanging out of the vehicle’s window while holding a firearm. When they could not locate the victim they drove off.

Several officers responded to the scene where some of them made contact with the victim while others fanned out to look for the suspects. Tovio and Tauanu’u were soon located at Parker and 42nd and a traffic stop was conducted. They were transported to the department for questioning. As a result, both were then further transported to the Anchorage Correctional Complex and remanded on charges of Robbery II, Assault III, Assault IV, and Theft III. Tauanu’u was also charged with violating his conditions of release in a prior case.

The van was towed for evidence.

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