Local authorities, coordinated by the Lakeway Police Department, nabbed three robbery suspects after they tried to sack Cristiani’s Jewelers in the Lakeway Commons shortly before 10:30 a.m. Sept 14.

Police arrested Damian Rashad Bailey, 20, who has been charged with aggravated robbery, a first degree felony and evading arrest, a second degree felony; Jamcon Leeroy Owens, 21, who has been charged with robbery, a second degree felony; and Jeremy Sayie, who had not been processed by the Travis County Jail at presstime Tuesday night. Bond of $50,000 had only be set for Owens.
According to Lakeway Lt. Todd Radford, there is a possibility more charges could be assessed against the trio for other crimes committed elsewhere.
“It looks like all three will at least face robbery charges,” Radford said.
Radford noted that police were first alerted that trouble might be brewing when it received a 911 phone call from an employee at Cristiani’s.
“There were no major injuries to any of the store’s employees, but one woman was punched in the shoulder, although the suspect was apparently aiming for her face,” Radford said. “He did that while reaching for a gun.”
According to Radford, the crime and police response “all came down simultaneously.”
“We believe an off-duty officer from the district attorney’s office — Shannon Conklin — noticed them pull into the parking lot and thought they looked suspicious and checked the license plate and checked in and found the car was possibly stolen,” Radford said. “Meanwhile, the employee inside was getting suspicious and called 911.”
Lakeway police immediately rolled units to the scene.
“The guy who was the ‘lookout’ for the burglars apparently realized that they were being noticed and alerted the others that they needed to try to flee the scene,” Radford said. “One suspect tried to get a hold on one of the employees, but could not, and they then fled the scene.”
Radford said there was a video of the incident taken by security cameras in the jewelry store.
“Two of the suspects headed toward Starbucks, and then went behind Starbucks,” Radford said. “Later we found some evidence near there — including some gloves and the gun. They took off and headed toward the golf course.”
The other suspect headed toward Mulligans, Radford explained. He was pursued by the off duty officer, who was quickly joined by police in an on-foot chase.
“A bystander — we don’t know who he was — stopped and helped tackle the suspect,” Radford said. “Officers then took him into custody. We still don’t know who the good samaritan was because he got in his truck and left the scene.”
What followed was a massive manhunt that lasted nearly seven hours.
“We had a variety of reports throughout the day about possible sightings,” Radford said. “We had dogs out and helicopters in the air searching for them.”
A total of seven agencies helped Lakeway police in the dragnet of the area, including Travis County sheriffs deputies, Bee Cave police, Constable Pct. 2, Constable Pct. 3, Lake Travis Fire-Rescue, the Texas Department of Public Safety and Austin police.
“We had StarFlight, Austin police and DPS helicopters in the air searching off and on throughout the day,” Radford said. “Later, we also had a DPS fixed wing plane in the search.”
Radford gave top marks to the coordination between area agencies in that assisted in the search.
“We really had nice coordination between the various agencies involved,” Radford said. “We are very thankful to each agency for their efforts.”
Around 4 p.m., a bystander was flagged down on Claravan by the suspects and asked where I-35 was. The bystander told them that it was “just up the road.” The bystander then went home and notified police.
“When he called, a constable and Chief [Rusty] Pancoast from Bee Cave had turned onto Claravan,” Radford said. “They saw the two African-American males walking down the street. When the suspects saw the police had spotted them, they hit the ravine between Claravan and Steward Road. Now we had a positive sighting.”
The suspects made their way to an area between Sail and Ski and the Mini Storage and found a trash dumpster behind the complex.
“While they were headed for the dumpster, a passer-by was on the phone and said, ‘hey, I just saw two African-American males over here in Lakeway. Maybe those are the guys Lakeway is looking for,” Radford said. “They kinda freaked out after that.”
The suspects hid in the dumpster and within seconds police had multiple units and helicopters overhead.
“We made a tactical approach to the dumpster and flipped open the lid,” Radford said. “They were covered by a bunch of brochures and carpet samples, but still didn’t want to come out. But we could see the black shirt of one of them and made the arrests.”
After being interviewed by the Lakeway police department, the remaining suspects were transported to the Travis County Jail, where they remained in custody at presstime.