A crew of robbers late on Sunday, May 19 targeted at least four 7-Eleven convenience stores across Los Angeles and Orange counties, and possibly more, as police continue to investigate the apparent crime spree.
Over about a half hour, a group of five men barged into three different 7-Eleven stores located in North Orange County: Two in Anaheim and one in Fullerton, police said.
At every location, the group jumped over the front counter, grabbed cash boxes and cigarettes, then fled outside to a waiting vehicle.
The group is believed to have robbed a fourth 7-Eleven in Anaheim at around 1 a.m. the next morning, said Sgt. Jon McClintock, a spokesman for Anaheim police.
Police in Fullerton and Anaheim said they were treating the robberies as being connected because of the similar methods and numbers of people involved in each incident.
“Their MO appears to be the same,” McClintock said in a text message. “Several suspects…enter the store, forcibly steal the store’s cash register(s), and then flee.”
City News Service reported Monday afternoon that Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrested three suspects in Lakewood who may be linked to the robberies, a sheriff’s lieutenant said. They were arrested in a vehicle about 2:30 p.m; other details about the suspects were not immediately available
McClintock said that in several of the robberies, the suspects fled in a dark-colored SUV.
The first 7-Eleven robbed was the location at 775 N. East Street in Anaheim at around 10 p.m. A second store at 3080 E. La Palma Avenue, also in Anaheim, was robbed just 20 minutes later. The third store in Fullerton, at 1000 W. Orangethorpe Avenue, was robbed after 10:30 p.m.
The fourth, at 3899 E. Riverdale Avenue in Anaheim was robbed at 1 a.m.
It was not clear if the robbers were armed — police have not said whether any of the suspects were observed holding weapons during the robberies.
Officials also noted a fifth potential robbery in L.A. County that occurred around the same time as the others: A similar group of men robbed a 7-Eleven in Bellflower, at 9403 Bellflower Blouevard, just after 1:45 a.m., according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
LASD could not say whether the Bellflower robbery was connected. But detectives with the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau, which typically assists on regional, multi-agency investigations, were handling the incident, officials said.
City News Service contributed to this report.
