Teens charged in food mart robbery

Four teens, including two who had escaped from a detention centre in Saskatchewan, have been charged in connection to robbery in western Manitoba.

According to police, the four teens aged 14, 16, 17 and 19 went into at Stahl's Food Mart, in the town of Alexander, just before 1 p.m. Monday.

They lingered in the store until other customers left then one of the youths grabbed some liquor from a shelf and ran out, police said.

The clerk confronted the other three individuals, who then demanded cash from the register and ordered her to lie on the floor.

The warned the clerk to stay there and not to come after them or call the police.

The three robbers then took as much liquor as they could carry, left the store and fled the scenein a waiting vehicle, police said.

Tracked to Sioux Valley First Nation

The police investigation revealed they headed towards the Sioux Valley First Nation in a car that was stolen from the city of Brandon earlier that morning.

Police tracked the four individuals to Sioux Valley First Nation and retrieved video surveillance from a gas station where they had made some purchases.

The video enabled police to identify the robbers, two of whom the 14-year-old and 17-year-old were escapees from Regina's Dojack Youth Detention Center and had Canada-wide warrants out for their arrest.

The 16-year-old was identified as being from the Sioux Valley First Nation, police added.

The individuals cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Due to the fact that the 19-year-old is closely related to two of the youths, he cannot be identified, either, police said.

All four were later arrested at a residence in Brandon after RCMP received a tip.

They arenow in custodyat the Brandon Correctional Institute.