Three men who police said committed two armed robberies in south Palo Alto and one in Milpitas on Monday evening, April 17, were arrested in San Francisco later that night following a search that involved officers from numerous Bay Area agencies.

The three men, all Oakland residents, are accused of robbing a Palo Alto family who had just arrived home and pulled into the garage in the 1100 block of Trinity Lane at about 6:30 p.m., police said in a press release. Police said two men approached the family of four as they were getting out of their car and demanded their phones and the woman's purse. One of the robbers pointed a gun at the male member of the family and threatened to kill him if he didn't comply. Once they got the phones, they fled the scene in a white Kia SUV that was driven by a third man.

While investigating the robbery, officers also learned about another robbery that occurred in the 800 block of Marshall Drive, where a woman reported that she had just been robbed at gunpoint of her cellphone by men matching the same description. The woman said the men had parked their car in front of the house and wore ski masks.

Officers and public safety dispatchers distributed information about the crimes to regional law enforcement agencies and determined that the men were in a white 2020 Kia Sportage that had been reported stolen out of Oakland earlier that morning, according to the press release.

Officers also learned that the three men were allegedly involved in a similar robbery that occurred later in the evening in Milpitas.

The three men, who are aged 18, 19 and 21, were apprehended shortly after 9 p.m. when San Francisco Police Department officers located the Kia near Seventh and Stevenson streets and conducted an enforcement stop. They detained the vehicle's four occupants, including the three robbery suspects, without incident, according to the news release.

Palo Alto police also went to the scene of the stop and were able to recover the victims' stolen property from the vehicle, as well as a blank pistol. Officers also found multiple other cellphones in the vehicle and believe those may have also been stolen (they are now trying to find the owners of the phones). Milpitas police also assisted in the investigation.

The three men were booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail and face numerous felony charges relating to the three incidents: three counts of robbery, one count of robbery residential burglary for entering the garage on Trinity Lane, one count of possession of stolen vehicle, one count of possession of stolen property (the items taken from the victims) and one count of conspiracy.

The 18-year-old man was also charged with one count of assault with a deadly weapon for pointing a gun at the man in the first robbery. The 19-year-old man is believed to have been the getaway driver, according to the news release.

Police also learned that the fourth person in the vehicle, a 16-year-old boy from Oakland, had an outstanding probation violation warrant out of Alameda County, according to the news release. He was taken to the Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall and detectives are investigating whether he may have been connected to either Palo Alto robbery.

Editor's note: Palo Alto Online's policy is to withhold the names of those arrested for most crimes until the district attorney has determined there is sufficient evidence to file charges in the case. Read our guidelines.