Audio By Carbonatix
No one can call Steven Flores orthodox. Police say he robbed a Walmart (of all places) with a machete and even had the foresight to bring a change of clothes for the getaway.
Around 4 p.m. Monday, Mesa police responded to a report of an armed robbery near Loop 202 and Guadalupe Road and began searching the area for a man wearing a dark hoodie and carrying, uh, a huge machete.
See also: Suicidal Machete-Wielding Mesa Man Dies After Being Shot by Police Buckeye Police “Body-Planted” Grandpa at WalMart in Black Friday Mayhem
Cops set up a perimeter and stopped a man who seemed suspicious but later released him because he didn’t fit the description.
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Minutes later, however, officers received an updated description of the suspect that matched, yep, the man they’d just released. Apparently, someone had seen Flores change clothes after hopping over a wall.
Mesa police found the discarded garb and the machete and set out to find the man they’d just set free.
In a moment of luck or serendipity, an officer who was driving down the street in a nearby neighborhood had “heard a door slam” to a house, so the officer stopped and knocked on the door.
Out of the house came the guy they were looking for, Flores. After a brief struggle, he was arrested. Flores is being charged with aggravated assault and robbery.
