Howard County police arrested five Ellicott City men traveling in a car in Columbia yesterday evening following an armed robbery at a Pizza Hut, police said.

According to police, four masked men entered the Pizza Hut, in the 12300 block of Clarksville Pike, in Clarksville, at about 10 p.m. Nov. 30. Brandishing handguns and rifles, the men forced the employees into the back area of the restaurant while they took money from the safe and cash registers. There were no customers in the restaurant.

The men forced the employees into a freezer and told them to wait inside, then fled in a white sport utility vehicle, police said.

One of the employees was able to call police from the freezer and provided police with descriptions of the suspects and their vehicle, police said. A patrol officer on Route 32 saw a vehicle matching the description and followed it until police could make a traffic stop in the 7100 block of Minstrel Way in Columbia.

Police determined that the men in the vehicle were the same as the men involved in the robbery and took them into custody. A fifth man who was driving the vehicle was also taken into custody.

Police identified the men arrested as Hugo Ernesto Perez, 30; Pablo Perez Ramos, 30; Adan Perez Ramos, 27; and Tulio Enrique Canas Sandoval, 19, all of 6139 Waterloo Road. Each was charged with armed robbery, assault, reckless endangerment, theft and handgun violations, police said.

An arrest warrant was also issued for Jose Fidel Lopez, 33, also of 6139 Waterloo Road, who was taken to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center with a non-life threatening leg injury after his own handgun discharged inside the vehicle. He is expected to be released from hospital and formally charged today.

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