Byron police arrest armed robbery suspect wanted for several crimes

UPDATE: BYRON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Byron Police have located the revolver used in a recent heist at a Waffle House.

Detective Melanie Bicksord says they located the Colt Trooper Mark III revolver the day after the armed robbery.

More than 35 police officers and sheriff’s deputies comb portions of Georgia Highway 49 looking for armed robbery, 27-year-old Edward Holt suspect on Aug. 12.

Byron Police Chief Wesley Cannon says Holt walked into the Waffle House located at 301 North Georgia Highway 49 and demanded cash. The armed robbery happened at 4:24 a.m.

Witnesses say Holt took the cash register drawer and ran away.

Cannon says his officers arrived at the Waffle House within two minutes and chased Holt behind the restaurant.  But when he crossed I-75 they lost sight of him. Until a witness told police they saw him crossing Highway 49 holding a revolver, according to Cannon.

According to Detective Bicksord, Holt would only talk to her, saying he threw the gun behind O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store.

But, officers along with a Bureau Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) K-9 was unable to locate the revolver.

Authorities brought Holt to the scene for him to show them the exact location of the weapon. He continued with his story of hiding it behind O’Reilly’s.

“It wasn’t until Officer Dononvan was about to take him back to jail that he broke down and told me where it was,” said Bicksord.

They found the Colt Trooper Mark III revolver behind storage buildings that are for sale near Highway 49, she added.

A Georgia State Patrol helicopter hovered over the woods where police suspected Holt was hiding as the massive search was underway.

“What happens a lot with the help of a helicopter is either one, you flush the suspect out of the woods or you keep him in an area,” explained Cannon. “In this case we were able to keep him in an area and then we sent a six man team in to apprehend him, which they did without incident.”

It was three hours into the manhunt, around 7 a.m., when nearly 35 police officers, Peach and Houston County deputies searching a nearby wooded area across the street from Byron Elementary School. They found Holt hiding out just 100 yards from the elementary school and 30 minutes before the school was to open.

“Of course we made sure we had enough men on the roadway in front of that school,” said Cannon. “There was no way he was going to cross that school or get any where close to it not with the manpower we had on scene.”
 
No one was injured during the incident. Cannon acknowledged that was due in part to the large number of law enforcement officers searching for Holt.

“Without a strong working relationship, without us working together constantly day in and day out there is no way in the world we could have apprehended this armed robber,” he added.

According to Cannon Holt is wanted for questioning by the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office as a suspected armed robber.

Holt is also the suspect wanted in connection to three robberies that happened in Warner Robins early Wednesday morning.

The Warner Robins Police Department believes they are all related.

Wendys on Houston Lake Road reported a robbery at 12:30 a.m. Taco Bell on Lake Joy Road reported another robbery at 12:58 a.m. Hop-In on Highway 96 reported another robbery at 2:09 a.m.

The Warner Robins Police Department is working with Bryon Police on this investigation.