By Ari Bloomekatz and Richard Winston
The Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles police arrested two bank robbery suspects this morning and were searching for at least two others who fled into the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza mall, which remained on lockdown.
The suspects allegedly robbed the Downey Savings & Loan in Costa Mesa and were being chased by California Highway Patrol officers when they crashed their vehicle into a palm tree near the mall about 10:30 a.m., said Officer Ana Aguirre of the Los Angeles Police Department. The suspects, all clad in black, then fled on foot into the mall.
One witness said he watched as a black SUV carrying five men sped toward the mall entrance before losing control and smashing into the tree. He said that money began spilling out of the car and that bystanders ran over trying to scoop it up.
“It was crazy,” he said. As the others fled, the driver of the vehicle, “a well-dressed Latino man,” was taken into custody, he said.
As police helicopters circled above, officers surrounded the mall as they continued their search.
Andrea Ratchford, 46, was shopping for shoes with her family when the suspects bolted into the mall. The homecare nurse worried that she wouldn’t be able to make it to work.
“We can’t leave,” she said. “I have to go to work at 12 p.m. but I can’t get out.”
Copyright 2008 The Los Angeles Times