Online date turns into ambush - man beaten and robbed at gunpoint in Warren

WARREN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A dating app meet-up turned dangerous Monday morning when a man was robbed.

The victim escaped but the Macomb County prosecutor says online daters have to be more careful than ever.

The backstory:

"A dating app, where people meet each other online, that in and of itself is scary because you don’t meet at 1:30 in the morning. you just don’t do it," said Prosecutor Pete Lucido.

An incident Monday morning near 12 Mile and Van Dyke turned dangerous quickly.

"Real early in the morning like that you've got to be suspect at best," Lucido said. "There was a meeting arranged. When the individual went there apparently two males robbed him."

Warren police say the male victim was supposed to meet a woman at an apartment at 12 Mile and Lund. Once inside, he says she told him to wait in the bedroom while she was in the bathroom.

Investigators say that was when the victim was approached by two other men, and was assaulted and robbed. The suspects ran away.

The victim climbed out of the window and called 911.

"He had to run for his life because of the fact that he was robbed," Lucido said. "There appears to have been a weapon involved, a gun."

Warren police say they saw the suspects run into a residence in the area and barricade themselves inside.

The special response team forced themselves in and four suspects - three men and a woman - were arrested.

"We'll know more to come," Lucido said. "We’re just trying to sort out right now how we can stop and prevent these measures."

He said to encourage folks to proceed cautiously and not meet up at suspicious times of the day.

"Give a location, drop an online pin for your family," he said. "You just never know what you’re going to encounter."

The apartment complex near 12 Mile and Van Dyke.