Police arrested a man on Sunday morning following an attempted robbery that was committed in downtown Palo Alto and completed robbery in East Palo Alto.
On Sunday, December 28, 2025, at about 10:16 am, East Palo Alto Police responded to Jack Farrell Park in East Palo Alto for the report of a robbery. Three armed suspects approached the juvenile victim and robbed him of personal belongings, while brandishing guns. During the robbery, one suspect smashed the victim’s phone on the ground, rendering it inoperable and delaying his call to police. The victim was not physically injured.
On Sunday, December 28, 2025, at about 10:17 a.m., our 24-hour dispatch center received a call reporting a man who had attempted to take a purse from a victim near the intersection of Lytton Avenue and Webster Street. The victim, a woman in her thirties, reported that the man presented a firearm and demanded the victim’s purse. The victim requested to keep some items from her purse and the suspect agreed. As the victim was taking items from her purse, the suspect fled the scene in a green Kia Soul. The victim was not physically injured.
Officers from the Palo Alto Police Department responded to the area to search for the suspect. A Palo Alto Police Officer located the green Kia Soul near the intersection of University Avenue and Woodland Avenue. Officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop on the vehicle, and it fled at a high rate of speed. The officers pursued the Kia to the intersection of University Avenue and Donohoe Street in East Palo Alto where the Kia was involved in a hit and run accident. The Kia stopped a short distance away, and two suspects ran from the car and escaped. One suspect remained at the scene; Palo Alto Police detained him without incident and determined he was the suspect from the Palo Alto attempted robbery. The driver from the hit and run accident was transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries that resulted from the accident. Officers from the East Palo Alto Police Department arrived at the scene to assist. The Kia was found to be a vehicle that was reported stolen out of Suisun City. Police located a replica firearm inside the vehicle that officers believed was used in the Palo Alto attempted robbery. Property belonging to the East Palo Alto victim was located in the vehicle.
The suspect was arrested by the East Palo Alto Police Department for their crime and booked at the San Mateo County Main Jail. The Palo Alto Police Department will send a case to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office requesting charges.
The suspect arrested is Andru Sheldon, a 20-year-old male from Redwood City. Sheldon was booked for robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, and possession of stolen property (all felonies). Sheldon was also booked for possession of burglary tools, brandishing a replica gun, and inflicting injury on a child (all misdemeanors). The other two suspects remain outstanding.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984, or submitted using the “TipNow-Palo Alto” app, which is available via the App Store or Google Play.
To read this news release on the city's website click here: https://www.paloalto.gov/News-Articles/Police-Department/Joint-Press-Release-Police-Arrest-Man-for-Robbery?transfer=0dfc965e-29ad-4d1a-991f-13df3b5898b1
