Madison police arrested two 17 year old suspects, Ramar A. Brown and Donte D. Hunter, for a targeted armed robbery Wednesday

The two suspects were detained Wednesday night after a gunshot was reported on Langdon Street, an incident that resulted in lockdowns in the neighborhood and Memorial Union as police pursued the suspects.

A 19-year-old male was robbed of his backpack and keys on the 100 block of West Gilman Street at 6:23 p.m., Wednesday, prompting a chase down Langdon Street, Madison Police Department spokesperson Joel DeSpain said. MPD did not report any injuries after gunshots were reported near 130 Langdon.

DeSpain said friends of the armed robbery victim on Gilman Street chased after the two suspects who fled on foot. At the 100 block of Langdon, one of the two suspects fired a shot, DeSpain said.

He added it is not clear whether the shot was fired in the air or at one of the people involved in the chase. DeSpain said the suspects split up and one of the suspects may have waded through the shallow water of Lake Mendota in an attempt to flee.

At least one of the two suspects was armed with a handgun, DeSpain said, although police have not yet recovered a firearm.

An eyewitness at 112 Langdon St., who observed the chase through his apartment window, said he saw three men running down Langdon Street when one of them pulled his arm back in the air and shot what resembled a handgun.

“It sounded like a pop,” the eyewitness said.

Despain said MPD was working in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Police Department to detain the two suspects, aged 17 and 18. UWPD detained one of the suspects at a bus stop on Observatory Drive, and MPD detained the other suspect at the intersection of Henry Street and Gilman Street.

UW placed several buildings on lockdown during the chase, advising people to stay indoors until police contained the situation. DeSpain said there is an indication the suspects ran through Memorial Union and down Lakeshore path.

DeSpain said both suspects are under investigation and have not been formally arrested yet. Despite feeling confident in their actions, police do not know if these suspects are responsible for the crime, he said.

It is also unclear if these suspects are related to other recent armed home invasions in the Greenbush-Vilas neighborhood.

“At this point it is really too early to say if these two individuals who were detained are responsible for the crime that occurred tonight, or if they could be responsible for the crimes that occurred at those other two locations,” DeSpain said.

He said it was possible the robbery victim was a Madison Area Technical College student, given the information the police have obtained.

DeSpain said a witness reported seeing a suspect enter MATC’s downtown building, but officers thoroughly inspected the building and did not find anyone matching the descriptions.

Police recovered the victim’s backpack later Wednesday night with the help of police dogs, a MPD statement said.

DeSpain said both police departments are still investigating the crime.

“We still have a lot officers, and the university police probably have a lot of officers out looking for additional evidence and witnesses,” DeSpain said. “It’s a very fluid situation.” 

UPDATE:

MPD determined the crime was drug related, according to a statement released Thursday.

DeSpain said the suspects likely came to the victim with the intention to buy drugs, and robbed the victim instead. DeSpain said the majority of armed robberies and home invasions are drug related. However, he added this particular crime was not related to the Vilas and Adams street robberies and those cases are still unusual.

“This is more what we expect to see when we have armed robberies,” DeSpain said.

Sarah Link, City Editor, contributed to this article.

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