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Police Beat: Redondo Beach
Wrong victim
Two men allegedly tried to rob an off-duty police officer using a toy gun Saturday on the 1800 block of Hawthorne Boulevard. Shortly after 6 p.m. the Palos Verdes Estates police officer was crossing a parking lot with his 5-year-old daughter. Two men, one wearing a bandanna over his face and holding a gun in his hand, approached the officer from behind. The man yelled at the officer and his daughter to "come here." The officer ignored the demand and continued to his car. He put his daughter into the car and grabbed his personal handgun. The officer showed the gunman, who was still pointing his gun at him, that he was armed and got into his car. The officer drove off, looking for someone to call for help. Police, having received calls about the incident, detained two suspects on the corner of Artesia and Hawthorne Boulevard and found a toy gun under a nearby car, officers said. The suspected gunman denied having seen the gun before, but pictures of him posing with an identical gun were found in his possession during booking, police said.
Grab and go
Security officers chased a shoplifting suspect from the 1800 block of Hawthorne Boulevard into the surrounding neighborhood. Redondo Beach police helped pursue the suspect who broke into two homes on the 170th St. of Lawndale trying to escape, police said. The suspect was discovered in a house on 169th street, officers said.
Robbery
A young man allegedly tried to walk out of a store on the 2500 block of Artesia Boulevard without paying full price for an 18 pack of beer. The man had put the beer on the store’s checkout counter along with some money and then attempted to walk out of the store, according to a police report. The store clerk told the man that he hadn’t paid enough to take the beer. The man lifted up his shirt to reveal a handgun tucked in the waistband of his pants. A second man entered the store and both men told the clerk not to call police. They fled with the merchandise.
Up in smoke
Redondo Beach police responded to a burglar alarm that went off at 4:31 a.m. on the 1800 block of Pacific Coast Highway. Officers found the front door of a business forced in and cartons of cigarettes were taken. A week earlier, a similar crime was committed at a South Redondo party store. ER