According to Spalding County Sheriff Dee Stewart, three people are in custody charged with armed robbery and numerous other charges stemming from an investigation into the robbery of four people who stopped at a convenience store at the intersection of North Hill Street and Northside Drive.

Stewart said investigators have been looking into numerous thefts and robberies involving local gang members of the Zoo Crew, which is allegedly part of the Northside Bloods Gang.

Stewart said three of these gang members were targeting people coming to convenience stores in the area, as well as people visiting or living at the Northside Hills apartment complex.

Authorities say four people drove up to a convenience store in a car Sunday and were robbed at gunpoint by members of this gang. Stewart said shortly after that incident, the same three were involved in a shooting in the city of Griffin.

Investigators continued receiving information and pulled their resources together with personnel from the Griffin Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, which resulted in the arrests of three suspects including 18-year-old Deangelo Johnson, known as “D Low,” of Northside Hills Apartments; 15-year-old Tabias Lewis, known as “TT,” of 615 Ellis St.; and 16-year-old Drelin Dewberry, of 312 Main St.

Each has been charged with three counts of armed robbery, three counts of aggravated assault, four counts of false imprisonment and one count of entering auto.

Stewart said the two juveniles, Lewis and Dewberry, will be tried as adults in Spalding County Superior Court along with Johnson.

These are serious charges, said Stewart. False imprisonment holds a life sentence.

Stewart said investigators are looking into other robberies that have occurred in the area and if anyone has information pertaining to those robberies, they are asked to contact the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigative Division at 770-227-9406.

The three suspects have had their first-appearance hearings and are being held without bond.