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A 17-year-old Texas robbery suspect who sustained a gunshot wound in the leg when a victim stood his ground last week has been charged in two additional attacks as part of an alleged armed robbery spree, according to Austin police.
Authorities said they arrested Jaylyn Reed and three other teens last week after they held up a couple at The Domain, a busy shopping center, and the male victim opened fire in self-defense.
Police said Tuesday that he’s now being charged in connection with two other robberies that both occurred on June 7, and for allegedly “firing randomly” at a pickup truck.
He and an unidentified Black male accomplice allegedly held up a man at gunpoint on Gessner Drive. A short while later, after another alleged robbery on East Anderson Lane, police accuse Reed of shooting at the pickup truck in an incident caught on surveillance video.
AUSTIN POLICE ARREST FOUR SUSPECTS IN STRING OF NINE ROBBERIES AFTER VICTIM SHOOTS ALLEGED ROBBER
Jaylyn Reed, inset, is accused of shooting at a pickup truck and 11 robberies in the month of June, according to Austin police.
(Austin Police)
The driver and passenger escaped injury, according to authorities.
Reed has now been linked to 11 aggravated robberies in Austin in the month of June alone, police said, and the entire group had previously been arrested in connection with a 2021 robbery spree. In several instances, victims suffered head injuries after Reed and his crew allegedly pistol-whipped them.
TEXAS MAN SUSPECTED OF COMMITTING TWO MURDERS WHILE FREE ON BOND IN COUNTY OF SOROS-FUNDED DA
Reed was released from juvenile custody on a personal recognizance bond in late May and had allegedly cut off his ankle monitor before the string of robberies, a police source told Fox News Digital Thursday.
Critics of Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza have taken issue with bail and sentencing guidelines he issued after taking office.
“Those who have committed heinous crimes and are a danger to the community should remain in custody pending trial,” Garza wrote in an April 2021 memo. “But we must work to ensure that it is not just the wealthy who are given an opportunity to be released when they are not a danger to the community.”
Reed’s PR bond would have meant he was freed without any up front cost.
“The DA didn’t protect anybody in this situation,” Ken Casaday, the president of the Austin Police Association, told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
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If Reed remained behind bars, the victims could have been spared from crime, and he wouldn’t have been shot.
Fox News’ Sarah Rumpf and Paul Best contributed to this report.
