PetSmart Shooting Suspect Arrested

The San Mateo Police Department has announced the arrest of a 34-year-old man believed to be responsible for that injured the store clerk.

Ricky Sanders, an Oakland resident, was arrested Nov. 7 in Alameda County, where he remains in custody, San Mateo police Sgt. Dave Norris said in a statement released Monday night.

Sanders is the alleged gunman who entered the PetSmart located at 3520 S. El Camino Real shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 8 and approached one of the sales clerks.

Sanders allegedly demanded cash and then fired several shots at the clerk and fled from the store, police said.

The clerk, a 34-year-old San Mateo man, suffered a gunshot wound and was transported to a nearby hospital. His injuries were not considered life threatening, police said.

There were about 15 customers in the store at the time of the robbery, and police interviewed witnesses at the scene. Part of South El Camino Real was closed for about an hour during the investigation.

San Mateo police collaborated with other local law enforcement agencies and learned the robbery matched charactaristics of what authorities dubbed the "Chrome Revolver Bandit" series.

Five Bay Area counties speculated that more than 30 robberies in more than a dozen jurisdictions involved a similar method of operation and suspect description, Norris said.

Agencies investigating these robberies met and shared information as a Task Force, including San Mateo, Daly City, Colma, Redwood City, Pacifica, San Bruno, Fremont, San Leandro, Mountain View, San Jose and San Francisco.

On Oct. 30, an armed robbery occurred at a PetSmart in San Jose. A fingerprint was collected at the scene, and San Jose police subsequently received a fingerprint match to a suspect in their investigation.

Around the same time, San Mateo police received a positive identification on the suspect from the Oct. 8 robbery and shooting, Norris said.

The suspect was the same person -- Ricky Sanders, according to Norris.

Authorities arrested Sanders and he remains in custody.

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.