Standoff with Albany armed robbery suspect ends

ALBANY — A standoff between law enforcement and Anthony Leon Parks Jr., a suspect in at least eight armed robberies including two in which store employees were shot, ended peacefully Thursday afternoon with Parks’ arrest.

Members of the Albany-Dougherty SWAT team emerged from an apartment building at 909 N. Madison St., where Parks had refused to come out, with Parks cuffed shortly after 5 p.m. That came after the SWAT team launched a pair of smoke canisters into the attic where Parks was holed up.

“Today, around 3 p.m., members of the Dougherty County Sheriff’s office attempted to serve an arrest warrant for Mr. Anthony Parks and Mr. Javarious Mallory on eight counts of armed robbery issued by the Albany Police Department,” Capt. Ken Faust of the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office said after Parks’ arrest. “We arrived at 909 North Madison here and made contact with two subjects in the house, the brother of Mr. Parks and Mr. Parks’ girlfriend. Their names are Antravious Parks and Deja Andrews.

“Once our deputies made contact with Parks and Andrews, we advised them that we were there to execute an arrest warrant for Mr. Parks and Mr. Mallory. We got consent to search the residence for those two individuals. We discovered Mr. Mallory in the residence, trying to hide in a dryer, and we were advised that Mr. Parks was located in the attic of the residence.”

Mallory was taken into custody, and both Antravious Parks and Andrews were removed from the premises.

After negotiations failed, the Albany-Dougherty SWAT team was activated.

“At that time, we advised the Albany Dougherty SWAT team that we had a subject in the attic, took Mr. Mallory into custody and removed the other individuals from the residence,” said Faust

SWAT personnel arrived on-site around 3:30 p.m. and entered the residence around 4:15 p.m. After about 20 minutes, the SWAT team exited the residence without Parks and took up positions on the side of the quadraplex apartment building.

Shortly thereafter, two smoke grenades were fired into the attic where Parks was hiding.

“O.C. spray was deployed into the attic to get Mr. Mallory to come out of the attic,” said Faust. “It is a tactic our SWAT team uses instead of our team going into the attic to apprehend him. We were hoping that he would come out, which he did.”

Parks, 25, surrendered peacefully and was escorted out of the building by SWAT team members before being surrounded by law enforcement and treated by EMS personnel.

Last Friday, Albany police released a lookout bulletin for Javarius Mallory, 23, and Parks in connection with eight armed robberies, including two during which employees were shot. The two suspects were described as armed and dangerous.

An informant tipped off the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office Thursday that the suspects were in the area.

“We received a tip that the suspects might be at that location,” said Faust.

Mallory and Parks were being sought in connection to armed robberies at stores located at 1801 W. Gordon Ave. (two incidents), 110 Cordele Road, 2340 Dawson Road (an employee was shot), 2701 Gillionville Road, 2314 W. Gordon Ave. and 1200 Dawson Road (employee was shot).

“The suspects are facing at least the eight armed robbery charges and probably an obstruction charge with more charges pending,” said Faust.

According to Lt. Keithen Hall of the Albany Police Department, each charge of armed robbery carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years to life.