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Suspects in bingo hall ninja robbery ID'd as 3 teens

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Police have arrested three men accused of dressing like ninjas and robbing a packed Palm Bay bingo hall earlier this month.

READ: Arrest affidavit

Andrew Guzman, Austin Hill and Leonard Valentine, all 17, ran into the Country Bingo on Dixie Highway flashing guns and yelling, "This is not a joke! Get down! This is a robbery.”

Police said the trio, however, were not wearing masks when detectives saw them on surveillance video casing the bingo hall before the robbery.

Surveillance video from inside the hall showed many patrons and employees dropping to the floor and hiding under tables as the robbery happened.  The men were then seen going into an office and taking a black briefcase containing cash before fleeing with $4,000 in cash and personal checks.

Witnesses claimed the men had guns, but no firearms were seen in the surveillance video, investigators said.

“You don't expect kids, you know, to commit crime. You expect them to do foolish things but nothing like that,” said Brevard County resident Mayra Hidalgo.

Investigators said they used the surveillance video and witness statements to get a confession from the teenagers. Police said the suspects face adult charges for armed robbery and grand theft, so they could be moved from the juvenile detention center to the Brevard County Jail.

Investigators are still searching for another person in connection with the robbery and several others who might have been involved.