Teen arrested in Arlington store robbery may be linked to fatal attack on couple, police say

Arlington police have taken a man into custody in connection with a violent convenience-store robbery and say they recovered evidence that may link him to a second robbery that left a man dead and his wife seriously injured.

Osagie Ayanru, 18, faces a charge of aggravated robbery after an incident earlier this week at a 7-Eleven in the 1900 block of East Sublett Road, near New York Avenue, police said.

Lt. Christopher Cook, a police spokesman, said at a news conference Friday that the robber — armed with a large kitchen knife — walked into the store about 12:20 p.m. Monday and went behind the counter. Despite the clerk complying with his demand to give him cash from the register, he punched, stabbed and kicked her in an assault captured on video.

About 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, police were called to that same store about a stolen car.

Half an hour later, officers were alerted to an attack about a mile away, in the 6400 block of South Collins Street. A married couple out for a nightly walk in their neighborhood were stabbed multiple times by a robber in what Cook previously called a “brutal, heinous act of violence.”

Islam Duly, 44, who had more than a dozen stab wounds, later died at a hospital. His wife was treated for serious injuries and released the following morning.

Police said their assailant fled south and possibly got into a vehicle. Just minutes after the robbery, a woman walking a dog in the 900 block of Southeast Parkway was hit by a car turning north onto Rising Meadows Drive.

The impact threw the woman into a nearby yard — potentially saving her life, Cook said — and the dog was killed. The woman, whose injuries were not life-threatening, told police she heard someone yell about grabbing her wallet.

Cook said the stolen vehicle was recovered Thursday near East Sublett and Wheeler Drive, within blocks of the other incidents, and that it had damage consistent with striking a pedestrian.

On Thursday night, police got a tip about the 7-Eleven robbery, and police obtained an arrest warrant for Ayanru after the clerk picked him out of a photo lineup, Cook said.

He was arrested Friday morning, and Cook said officers recovered keys for the stolen car from a trash bag in his home.

Cook stressed that police “still have a lot of work to do on this case” to determine whether all the incidents are connected but said there’s a “strong correlation” between them.

“We were all appalled at the level of violence in each of these cases,” Cook said.

Cook added that DNA test results, which may be returned within a few days, could determine whether Ayanru was involved in Duly’s slaying.

Although police initially believed a getaway driver took part in the Wednesday-night incidents, Cook said Friday that video footage made it hard to tell whether or not the robber acted alone. But he said police will not close their case until they’re confident they’ve apprehended everyone involved.

Ayanru was being held at the Arlington jail Friday evening, with bail set at $20,000. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.