Metro bus robbery suspect accused of another robbery on bus

SEATTLE — The man suspected of robbing several passengers on a bus in late November was charged Monday with a similar robbery on another bus just nine days prior to the incident.

Nineteen-year-old Trevonnte Brown is being held on a $350,000 bond. He pleaded not guilty to two counts of robbery in the first degree, one count of attempted robbery in the first degree, and robbery in the second degree.

According to court documents, Brown was on board a King County Metro Transit bus on Nov. 16. When the bus made a stop at South Hanford Street and Beacon Avenue South, he allegedly moved from the back of the bus toward a victim and lunged at the victim's Samsung Galaxy S4.

The documents state the victim and Brown "struggled over [the victim's] phone…Brown told [the victim] 'Let go, I have a gun.'"

The documents then state Brown reached in his jacket pocket as if he were reaching for a weapon and walked out the back door of the bus.

On Nov. 18, detectives said Brown was caught on a surveillance camera selling an iPhone 5 to an automated kiosk at Southcenter Mall. Documents state Brown was wearing the same knit cap that he wore on the bus.

Brown also is accused of pointing a gun at several passengers on a bus in West Seattle on Nov. 25, this time wearing a nylon face mask.

One victim, who did not want to give his name, said that after Brown robbed one woman at gunpoint, Brown approached him.

"He stuck the gun up against my head and said give me your phone. And I kind of jerked away, and I think he took that as struggling. And he told me not to make it any harder than it had to be," the man said.

He said when Brown went for a third victim, several bus riders tackled him.

"Me and two other guys kind of jumped on the two of them. And we all kind of landed in the middle of the bus until police arrived," he said.

Brown's mother, Trina Clay, said that she was tipped off that he might have a gun a couple of days before the last robbery.

Clay told KIRO 7 that she confronted her son. She said, "I stopped him at the door. 'Lift your coat up, open your jacket,' and I kind of frisked him down. 'Malik said you have a gun. You have a gun? You're not bringing a gun in here. You don't even need a gun.' He was like, 'No Mom, I don't have a gun.'"

Clay said that her son's car was towed a couple of weeks earlier, and that he may have committed the robberies to get money to retrieve his car.

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