Video captures suspect getting into fight at gas station.
Suspect captured on gas station video obtained by FBI.
A 36-year-old man is charged with going on a two-hour crime spree in Detroit this month that included shooting up his mother's home on Detroit's east side, carjacking an off-duty cop and firing shots at a gas station after getting into an altercation.
Ivan Xavier Armstrong, 36, was charged late last week with federal crimes of carjacking, using a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a firearm, federal authorities said.
Armstrong, who was on parole, has been in custody since April 3, the day of the crimes. He a record of convictions for illegal weapons and assault, and was paroled last December.
“The Coronavirus might slow some things down, but it won’t slow down law enforcement who continue to pursue violent criminals in the midst of this pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement.
Armstrong's alleged spree began around 4:20 a.m. with him kicking in the front door of his mother’s house on Cadieux Road, preventing her from leaving, damaging her phone and firing shots at her house, according to allegations contained in a court affidavit by FBI agent Christopher S. Pennisi.
Video shows suspect getting into fight at gas station.
He then ran off and about a half hour later approached a retired Detroit police officer sitting in his 2003 Hyundai Sonata on Harvard Road. Armstrong allegedly tapped the window with his gun and ordered the victim to get out the car, according to the FBI. Armstrong then racked the gun and man exited his vehicle. Armstrong then allegedly took his wallet, inckuding his retired police officer credentials.
At 5:04 a.m., Detroit police responded to a call for shots fired at a Mobil gas station at 14820 East Jefferson Ave. in Detroit.
By the time officers arrived, the shooter had fled. But a review of a high-definition videos taken by multiple gas station cameras showed Armstrong arriving at the station in the stolen retired cop's car, the FBI affidavit said.
The camera, according to the FBI, shows that Armstong got into a fight inside the gas station store and fired several shots at people inside the store. No one was injured.
He was arrested that morning after breaking into a residence on Alter Road in Detroit.
