Two charged with shooting armored car guard, taking $140,000, may be linked to similar robberies
Three charged with using AK-47s to rob armored truck may be linked to similar robberies
A woman charged with attempted murder for shooting an armored truck guard may be linked to similar robberies, police in New York say.
Nancy Nieves-Castellanos, 39, was charged Thursday with attempted murder in connection with the shooting of the guard at a Northport armored truck, a move that was prompted by another shooting of the driver of the truck Thursday.
At an arraignment held Thursday afternoon in the Northport district court, Magisterial District Judge Michael Fazio ordered Nieves-Castellanos held without bail. Fazio ordered that she be held without bail until her next appearance.
Fazio said there’s no doubt that the woman is linked to the same type of robberies in New York. The judge said she is accused of being the leader of a cell of four robbers who used AK-47 type rifles to rob the truck, which had $1.5 million in cash in it.
Investigators believe the robbers may have used the same “style” of attack as the armored truck guard Wednesday night.
Investigators said the shooter was shooting at the guards who were standing in front of the armored truck. They said she fired shots into the truck’s windshield after the guards told her to stop firing on them.
The truck driver refused police orders to turn off the truck’s engine just before 8:30 p.m., police said. The truck was transporting $1.5 million in cash when the guards ordered the truck stopped at the corner of East First and Second streets.
The armored truck driver did not take police orders, but he drove the truck forward and it collided with a police car, triggering the chase that led to the shootout.
Police said two rounds of fire were fired by police and the driver of the gun-toting robber team. The robbers fired on police officers who tried to get near the vehicle as the vehicle sped down East First and headed towards the water.
Officers also were hit with gunfire, and the armored truck driver was shot three times