Berkeley PD: He was shot by the clerk he tried to rob at gunpoint. His DNA led the cops to him.
Police say DNA linked Armoni Traylor to an armed robbery attempt at Black & White liquors that left the cashier with a gunshot wound to the hand.
A man who was shot while trying to rob a Berkeley liquor store last year was caught after his blood trail helped police ID him, court papers show.
Berkeley police say DNA linked 28-year-old Armoni Traylor to an armed robbery attempt at Black & White liquor store in August that also left the cashier with a gunshot wound to the hand.
As of this week, Traylor is in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Friday where a judge is set to decide whether the case will go to trial.
On Aug. 6, 2022, Berkeley police say Traylor went into Black & White liquor store at 3027 Adeline St. just south of Ashby Avenue at about 4:30 p.m.
He was wearing a black ski mask, according to court papers. He demanded money from the clerk and threatened him with a gun.
But the clerk was armed too: He pulled a handgun from beneath the counter and fired at Traylor, hitting him, according to court papers.
Traylor fired back and struck the clerk in the hand, according to Berkeley police.
Then he ran out of the shop and fled eastbound on Emerson Street and south on Tremont Street, leaving a blood trail as he ran, police say.
Surveillance video from inside the store "showed the suspect apparently dripping blood as he fled," according to court papers.
He escaped before officers found him.
The store clerk was taken to Highland Hospital in Oakland for treatment for his wound.
Berkeley police collected evidence from the blood trail. In February, BPD got the news that there was a DNA hit.
Authorities say the DNA matched Traylor, a convicted robber whose description matched the robbery suspect from Black & White.
Traylor is an Oakland resident, according to court papers, but he was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, in May, according to charging papers.
Armoni Traylor. BPD
The Alameda County district attorney's office charged Traylor with attempted robbery along with special allegations that he used a firearm and caused great bodily injury during the crime.
Traylor has a prior conviction for robbery in Alameda County from 2017, according to court papers. The case resulted in a strike.
If he is convicted of the new case, it would count as a second strike, according to charging papers.
Traylor is being held on $200,000 bail, according to booking records online.
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