Four charged in vicious armed robberies of pedestrians

Cleveland Williams, Joshua Hanley, Tyrone Willard and Sheldon Wrightsman.

Four Kansas City men are charged in a series of armed robberies this week that often included beating victims with pistols.

The spree began late Monday at 41^st and Baltimore streets and continued into early Tuesday at Valentine Road and Pennsylvania Avenue.

Police eventually captured the suspects after a car chase and foot chase.

The four each face four counts of first-degree robbery and four counts of armed criminal action.

They are Tyrone E. Willard, 19, Sheldon A. Wrightsman, 21, Cleveland Williams, 21, and Joshua Hanley, 26.

Wrightsman told police “he gets a thrill out of sticking people up,” according to court records.

From records and a media release from Jackson County prosecutors:

In the first robbery, the victims said two men in black hooded sweatshirts approached them on the street and one hit a victim in the head with a handgun. They took $90 cash and two cell phones.

In another robbery late Monday at 27^th and Campbell streets, a victim said he saw three men attempting to hide in bushes and a fourth sitting in a car. As he walked by, the victim said, he was hit in the head from behind and fell to the ground. When he got up, he saw the three males from the bushes standing over him.

They stole his cell phone and other personal property.

Early Tuesday, a victim walking near 3^rd and Oak streets was robbed. He said three men approached him and one hit him in the head with something and knocked him to the ground.

A thief also forced a gun into his mouth before demanding money, the victim said.

The thieves took $3 and things like his state issued identification card and social security card.

Also early Tuesday, two victims were robbed while walking near 40^th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Thieves took $10 cash, cell phones, a computer and the car of one of the victims.

In the final robbery at about 1:20 a.m., two men approached a victim walking near Valentine Road and Pennsylvania Avenue. One of them hit him in the head twice with a handgun and another punched him several times.

They took his cell phone, a credit card and a debit card.

Police tracked a cellphone stolen in one of the robberies and found the stolen car near the location.

When the suspects tried to leave in a another car, police chased them and captured them after the  car crashed at 55^th Street and Norton Avenue.