Update, 4:30 p.m.
The Wilmington Police Department released the identity of the three suspects arrested after a high-speed crash ended in a five-vehicle crash on Wrightsville Avenue earlier today.
Jimmy Cox, 17 years old, Brenton Jenkins, 18 years old, and Darrick Lee Jones, 42 years old, were arrested and charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and second degree kidnapping. All three suspects are from the Washington D.C. area.
More charges could be brought against the trio, said Wilmington Police Department spokesperson Cathryn Lindsay in a press release.
Police responded to the Bank of America on North Front Street at 9:17 a.m., where two suspects “brandished a bladed instrument and demanded money from a bank teller,” the press release states. A third suspect drove a dark-colored Toyota, which police pursued  from Third Street to the car’s resting place on Wrightsville Avenue, between Canal Street and Airlie Road.
The chase lasted approximately six minutes, ending when the suspects’ vehicle side-swiped a vehicle turning into the intersection at Wrightsville Avenue and Eastwood Road, triggering a chain of collisions in both lanes of the road.
After the collision, two suspects attempted to flee the scene.
None of the approximately 10 people involved in the incident were seriously injured. The suspects were treated at New Hanover Regional Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries.
Update, 12:00 p.m.
All lanes on Wrightsville Avenue are now open.
Update, 11:30 a.m.
Three suspects are in custody and receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries following an attempted robbery and high-speed chase this morning, Wilmington Police Department officials confirmed.
Names of the suspects have not yet been released.
Wilmington Police Department Spokesperson Cathryn Lindsay — who responded to the scene of a five-car collision near the intersection of Wrightsville Avenue and Eastwood Road, where officers arrested the suspects — said no other people involved in the wrecks reported any significant injuries.
“Everybody there was extremely lucky today,” she said. The vehicle suspects were driving was split in two pieces, with tires and car parts strewn across both eastbound and westbound lanes of Wrightsville Avenue between Canal Street and Airlie Road. (See picture below.)
Police instantaneously responded to the 9:17 a.m. robbery, Lindsay said, and although exact speeds of the cars involved in the chase down Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Eastwood Road are unknown, she confirmed the chase involved high speeds.
As of 11:30 a.m., most of the debris from the collisions has been cleared from the road. Police are still trying to collect all evidence and investigate the accident before releasing further details.
Original story:
Police and paramedics are on the scene of a five-car crash at the intersection of Eastwood Road and Wrightsville Avenue.
An officer with the Wilmington Police Department said the occupants of the car that caused the accident robbed the Bank of America on North 3rd Street earlier in the morning and fled east with the money. Lumina News reporters witnessed two men handcuffed and taken from the scene. Three suspects are in custody. The intersection, strewn with pieces of the vehicle and cash ejected from the car, is now taped off as a crime scene.
The collisions occurred around 9:30 a.m. Wrightsville Beach resident Lesli Musselwhite said she was traveling eastbound on Eastwood Road when she heard the sound of the crash behind her. When she looked back, she saw debris flying over her car.
Police were immediately on the scene, she said.
“First I heard what sounded like an explosion, and immediately, a piece of a car and tires and debris flew right behind me — I mean, I could see it in my rearview mirror,” she said. “… I stopped, because I could see that it was an automobile and I thought, there’s just been a really bad accident. I stopped thinking I might need to call 911, or go help somebody, and then I saw blue lights.”
The Wilmington Police Department tweeted the following account of this morning’s events.
We’re getting more information, stay tuned.
Staff writer Miriah Hamrick contributed to this report.
