Man suspected of aggravated robbery killed in Lorain crash

LORAIN — A Lorain man is dead after an alleged crime spree that took place Feb. 12. Henry Cobb, 41, died after crashing a reportedly stolen SUV at Oberlin Avenue and Meister Road around 10 p.m. Wednesday. Lorain police were dispatched to the Valero gas station, 3217 Oberlin Ave. at 9:45 p.m. Wednesday for a report of an attempted aggravated robbery. A woman told police that a man, later identified as Cobb, had attempted to force his way into the driver's seat of her vehicle while she pumped gas. The woman's 12-year-old daughter was in the vehicle, and the woman fought with Cobb while screaming for help. When bystanders began to approach, Cobb reportedly ran away. Minutes later, at the Raceway gas station across the street, 3040 Oberlin Ave., a woman told police a man had forcefully taken her keys from her and drove away in her vehicle. She told officers the man, later identified as Cobb, had tried to coax her out of her vehicle by telling her she had a flat tire. When she rolled up her window, he punched the window, causing it to shatter and demanded she get out of the car. The woman ran inside the gas station but lost her balance and fell, according to police. Cobb followed behind, reportedly threatening to harm her if she did not give him her keys. She did, and he drove away in her SUV. The woman was not injured. Lorain police received a third call minutes later from the 7-Eleven gas station at 3054 Leavitt Road from a clerk who said Cobb approached her behind the counter with a handgun on his hip and demanded the money in the register. She told officers Cobb threatened to shoot her if she did not comply, and he reportedly took the entire cash register and drove away in the SUV stolen from the Raceway gas station. Officers reportedly saw Cobb driving the stolen vehicle east on Meister Road from Leavitt at a high speed. Police said Cobb hit two other vehicles at the intersection of Meister Road and Oberlin Avenue, injuring four people. Two of those individuals were taken to University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center for further treatment. Cobb's vehicle caught fire due to the crash. Once he was extricated, he was declared dead at the scene. There was no one else in the SUV with him at the time of the crash. The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lorain Police Criminal Investigations Bureau at (440) 204-2105. Cobb had a history of robbery convictions in Lorain County dating back to 2016. In June 2016 Cobb, then 32, was charged with aggravated robbery eight hours after he robbed First Federal Savings Bank of Lorain. According to Chronicle-Telegram archives, Cobb walked in just after 9 a.m., handed a bank teller a note demanding money, then allegedly told the teller she was taking too long, he was serious and to hurry up or he would harm her. Lorain police said Cobb left the bank with an undisclosed amount of money, got into a stolen Ford Focus and drove off. Two days earlier, he had appeared in Common Pleas Court to plead not guilty to a robbery charge from a May 2016 incident. Cobb pleaded guilty later that same year to multiple charges: Two counts of robbery and one count of receiving stolen property, all felonies, in the bank robbery case, and two additional felony robbery charges apparently from the May 2016 incident. Judge Michele Silva-Arredondo sentenced Cobb to three years' probation and substance abuse treatment, ordering him to attend the program at the Lorain/Medina Community Based Correctional Facility in Elyria. In 2019, Judge Chris Cook extended Cobb's probation by one year at the request of the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. At the time, Cobb was in custody in Florida awaiting trial on a robbery charge, where he violated his Lorain County probation the following month and Cook issued a warrant for his arrest, according to court records. Cobb was arrested in Florida on the Ohio warrant, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented authorities from extraditing him, according to court records. Records further show that Cobb was sentenced to five years in prison in Florida in 2022, but more information on that conviction was not immediately available. Cook canceled the warrant and terminated Cobb's probation in Lorain County in 2023, noting that he was incarcerated in Florida and therefore no longer in need of supervision in Ohio.