Former Missouri basketball star, his brother accused in Tulsa armed robbery

A former University of Missouri basketball star and his brother have been charged in Tulsa, accused of ambushing a woman and robbing her at gunpoint.

Police say the victim was on her way to a bachelorette party when she was attacked.

The suspects, Marcus and Malik Denmon, are from Kansas City and were arrested there. 

Not a random attack:

At first, investigators thought this was a random ambush, but now they believe the suspects met the victim a few months before the robbery at a bar in Kansas City and targeted her.

Police say the evidence shows the suspects came to Tulsa from Kansas City with a plan to rob this victim.

Police say the victim was outside her apartment in January, packing her car to leave for a bachelorette party, when the Denmons attacked her.

"Two black male suspects completely covered up. One of them basically holds her down in the car at gun point, while the other one takes packages out of the car that she was loading up, cash,” said Lieutenant Justin Ritter with Tulsa Police Robbery.

Police say the men took several thousand dollars in cash and stole the victim's gun.

The Rental Car:

Police say surveillance pictures show Marcus and Malik Denmon renting a car in Kansas City a couple of days before the robbery and show the suspect's car in Tulsa the day of the robbery. Police say the white car was caught on video near the victim's apartment during the robbery and the night before and led officers to the men.

"We are kind of looking at this car thinking hey for some reason these people are casing this girl, right, they are trying to watch her,” said Ritter.

Police ran the tag on the car and learned that Marcus Denmon had rented the car in Kansas City a couple days earlier.

"When the car is rented in Kansas City the windows are not tinted. When the robbery takes place they are tinted, so these guys actually went to the lengths of taking the car, probably to an associate we're assuming and having the windows tinted,” said Ritter.

Ritter says they took the tint off before returning the car to the rental place.

Evidence in Tulsa:

Investigators say the suspects came to Tulsa two days before the robbery and checked into two different hotels. Police say surveillance video showed the men and the white car at those hotels. They were also caught on video at a Tulsa convenience store.

"For some reason, she was a selected victim. We believe that they were here the day before, were scoping her place out, maybe waiting for her to come home and were there the next morning when she was ready to leave,” said Ritter.

Malik and Marcus Denmon will be brought here to Tulsa to face their charges.

Marcus Denmon was a star basketball player at the University of Missouri from 2008 to 2012. He was drafted in the second round of the 2012 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs and played professionally in Europe.