2 of my friends(and fellow skiers) were held at knife point today

this just happened early today. i've grown up with the 2 victims my whole life, so this was pretty intense for me to find out:

By Shannon Green, Daily Register | Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 4:41 pm | (0) Comments

A suspected armed robber held two teenagers at knifepoint in a Portage house after about $3,000 was taken from Check Advance, 2930 New Pinery Road, about midday today, Portage Police Chief Ken Manthey said.

Three Madison men are in custody, two after a short chase and one after entering the Silver Lake Road home.

The suspect ran after he was stopped at a gas station, Manthey said, reached the house and broke in. Two boys inside the home stood in a bedroom while he hid under a desk, Manthey said. A girl hiding in a closet called 911.

Police kicked in several doors before rescuing the children and arresting the man.

Earlier, at about 11:30 a.m., a Check Advance clerk was punched and forced onto the floor during a robbery and told not to call police. After the robbers left, the clerk called police. Columbia County Sheriff Dennis Richards was in the area and heard the dispatcher’s page.

Richards said he had no description of any vehicle, except that he was looking for three people. According to police, the blue Chevrolet the suspects were in was driving at a high rate of speed on Airport Road approaching Silver Lake Drive. It failed to stop properly for a stop sign. It turned onto Silver Lake Drive and accelerated.

Richards made a U-turn and followed the vehicle as it pulled into the Wisconsin Street Mobil gas station. All three occupants stepped out of the vehicle despite Richards telling them to get back inside the vehicle. They continued to ignore his instructions and then all three took off running, police said.

The driver got out of the vehicle first, Richards said, and began walking west on Wisconsin Street, shortly followed by the other two men.

That’s when the chase began.

"They took off running ... all in the same direction," Richards said.

Richards followed them in his squad car and arrested one. After he was in custody of the Portage police, Richards went after another at Keith’s Recycling, 1030 Silver Lake Drive, where he arrived in time to prevent another suspect — who later turned out to have a gun and the money from the robbery — from leaving in a vehicle driven by an employee at the recycling center.

The woman asked not to be identified but said suspect the begged her for help, saying that he was being shot at, that he was in the area to visit family, and asked for her to hide him. He also offered her $100 for a ride and was getting into her vehicle when Richards arrived and told a deputy on scene to arrest the man.

The third suspect kept running east along the north edge of Silver Lake. He was found hiding under a canoe at the end of Lake Street but he ignored officers’ instructions to get on the ground so that he could be handcuffed, police said. Sgt. Eric Walters had his shotgun pointed at him but he instead took off running again, police said.

As police were searching for the third suspect, the county dispatch received a 911 call from a teenage girl who lives in the 800 block of Silver Lake Drive. She said that she was hiding in her bedroom closet and that a man was inside the home with her brothers and that he was armed with a knife. Officers and deputies forced their way into the home and found the man hiding under a desk in another bedroom. The two brothers were unharmed and the knife was recovered. The suspect had placed it down on the opposite side of the bedroom.

Manthey said the three suspects were from Madison and all were on probation or parole. One had an ankle bracelet on him, he said. All three were taken to the Columbia County Jail. They were identified as Robert James Artis, 26, Aaron Scott, 20, and Gregrico T. Turner, 20.

One of the men had a pistol and a large amount of cash in his pants pocket during his arrest. As he was being transported to the Columbia County Jail, he kicked out a window on the squad but he did not escape.

The three face tentative charges of robbery while armed, felony theft, false imprisonment, obstructing, criminal damage to property, carrying a concealed weapon, party to the crime of a felon in possession of a firearm and armed burglary.