More Suspects Arrested Following Walmart Robbery

TYLER — Tyler Police have issued several arrest warrants related to a robbery at the Walmart on South Broadway over the weekend. The suspects are identified as LeTroy Merritt, 32,(pictured) and Zaira Patterson, 20, both of Shreveport, La. Merritt was an Assistant Manager of the Walmart that was robbed. Investigators believe he played an intricate role in planning and assisting with the robbery. Patterson was the female who assisted the gunman in the office in gathering the money and was also the driver who struck the Good Samaritan with the vehicle who attempted to stop them. Both suspects were arrested for aggravated robbery Monday by the Western Louisiana Fugitive Task Force after receiving information from the US Marshal’s Joint East Texas Fugitive Task Force on the outstanding warrants from Tyler Police Department.

Merritt and Patterson remain in Bossier Parish Jail awaiting extradition to Smith County. Breonna Poole, 22, Justice Poole, 18, and a 14 year old juvenile, all of Shreveport, Louisiana, were arrested Saturday by Tyler police following the robbery.

Witnesses said just before midnight Saturday, several persons entered the store with a gun, held a store employee at gunpoint, took and undisclosed amount of money, and then fled. A pedestrian was hit by a fleeing suspect’s vehicle. He was treated at the scene for minor injuries. The vehicle that struck him was described as a dark colored four door sedan, occupied with two persons. Tyler police stopped another one of the suspect’s vehicles at South Broadway and Chimney Rock moments after the robbery. Officers found the cash bags with money and other items of evidence. The weapon involved in the robbery was recovered by a store manager in the store’s parking lot. It was a BB gun that resembled a real handgun. The two adults were booked into the Smith County Jail. The juvenile was taken to the Smith County Juvenile Attention Center.