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Charges were announced Saturday for a pair of New York City men in connection with the robbery.
At 12:49 PM on Friday, May 11, Monticello Police responded to a 911 report of an armed robbery at the store on 125 Jefferson Street in the Village of Monticello.
Two males, disguising their appearances with hooded sweatshirts, sunglasses and a mask, had entered the store and displayed what appeared to a black semiautomatic handgun to a store employee and two shoppers who were also present in the store, police said.
The pair then forced the store employee and customers to a back room of the store, where they bound all three with duct tape before stealing several dozen iPhones, iPads and other cell phones from the store’s safe, said police.
The two then fled the store with the stolen merchandise in a 2018 white Jaguar motor vehicle. The store employee was able to free herself and activate the store’s panic alarm, alerting Monticello police.
Monticello officers arrived on scene and quickly obtained a description of the suspects as well as information from AT&T security, which tracked one of the stolen phones via GPS, which showed the suspects traveling eastbound on Route 17.
Monticello police, assisted by State Police and the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, were able to locate the white Jaguar traveling eastbound on Route 17 in the Town of Mamakating, in the vicinity of Exit 113.
Officers attempted to initiate a stop of the suspects’ vehicle. During that attempt, a police vehicle was struck by a dump truck, injuring Monticello Police Detective Michael G. Davis as he was exiting that police vehicle.
The suspects’ vehicle then fled from police at speeds reaching 125 miles per hour. The vehicle became incapacitated after striking a guardrail while attempting to get off of the highway at Exit 116 in the Town of Wallkill in Orange County.
The vehicle eventually came to a stop in the parking lot of the Quickway Diner, where the two male suspects and a third individual attempted to flee on foot. All three were taken into custody in connection with this investigation after foot pursuits. Proceeds from the robbery were subsequently recovered, as well as a black pellet pistol.
Arrested were Tyquan Sharrod Hilliard, 27, and Khalif M. Watson, 23, both of Brooklyn.
The two were charged with robbery in the second degree, burglary in the second degree and coercion in the first degree, all felonies.
Both defendants were separately wanted for violations of parole in connections with their previous convictions for criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Additional charges against Hilliard and Watson are pending.
The third individual was not charged and was subsequently released.
Hilliard and Watson were arraigned before Acting Village of Monticello Justice Leo Glass and remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail pending further court action.
Monticello Police, in addition to the New York State Police and Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, were assisted by Town of Crawford police, Town of Wallkill police, members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office.
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