Billings Mall Robbery Turns Into High-Speed Chase Across Yards and a Golf Course

Tuesday evening at Rimrock Mall wasn’t just about shopping for deals or browsing the racks at Hot Topic. It was more like a live episode of Cops. According to a press release from the Billings Police Department, officers were called around 6 p.m. on September 23 after a robbery at a business inside the mall.

Police say two suspects, a man and a woman, tried the old “grab some merchandise and see what happens at checkout” routine. Things escalated quickly when the man whipped out a knife, threatened employees, and revealed what looked like a firearm hidden in a bag. Then the pair bolted, each in a different direction.

Read More: FBI to Open Billings Field Office, First in Montana in Decades

The alleged suspect drove onto a golf course!

Officers soon spotted a guy matching the description, but instead of pulling over, he floored it. The pursuit led north on 32nd Street West, where things got a little Western: he blasted through a fence and onto Peter Yegen Golf Course.

Get our free mobile app

Forget water hazards; the bigger hazard was a suspect in a car blasting across the fairway. The chase continued through residential lawns, endangering anyone unlucky enough to be raking leaves, playing with their kids, or sipping a beer on the patio.

Eventually, officers managed to box the car in.

When the driver refused to get out, BPD’s K9 was deployed... let’s just say the suspect didn’t argue much after that. The man was identified as 30-year-old Cameron Watson of Billings.

He racked up quite the rap sheet in one night, including robbery, assault on a peace officer, drug charges, resisting arrest, and a laundry list of other felonies and misdemeanors.

BPD thanked the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office, Billings Fire, AMR, and Probation & Parole for backing them up during the chaos. There were no injuries reported.