Violent Follow-Home Robberies Prompt LAPD To Create Task Force

LOS ANGELES, CA — Following a spate of high-profile and violent robberies, Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore announced Tuesday the creation a task force to investigate "follow-home robberies."

In Los Angeles alone, police have identified 133 instances of follow-home robberies in which armed crews either followed people from pricey restaurants, clubs, or neighborhoods or targeted people wearing expensive jewelry or driving nice cars.

Moore announced the task force the same day a 23-year-old man was killed outside the Bossa Nova Restaurant in what is believed to be tied to follow-home robberies.

Moore said the victim was "coming to the aid of a female who was being attacked" when he was killed. He was sitting in his Mercedes G-Wagon when the armed robbers approached a woman standing by his car talking to him.

The fatal robbery is part of a pattern of increasing violence associated with the brazen attacks.

Less than two weeks ago, actor Terrence Jenkins narrowly escaped a violent robbery attempt at his home in Sherman Oaks Wednesday. Armed robbers approached him as he pulled up to his house, and when he sped off to escape them, they gave chase. They shot at him in a dangerous pursuit along Sepulveda Boulevard.

After weeks of issuing warnings to residents, the LAPD created the Robbery Homicide Follow-Home Robbery Task Force comprised of robbery homicide detectives and resources from the LAPD's Gang Narcotics Division and Metropolitan Division.

"They'll work moving forward on identifying these individuals responsible and pursuing and bringing them before the criminal justice system," Moore said.

"The impact this is having on the sense of community, of safety, is profound," he added.

Moore said that robberies in Los Angeles have decreased over a two- year period, but they're more violent than in the past, with more suspects being armed with firearms and have "the potential for matters to escalate to something that we saw this morning."

Notably, detectives noted that victims were being followed from such places like Melrose Avenue, the Jewelry District of Los Angeles, high-end restaurants, and nightclubs from Hollywood and Wilshire Area.

Not all these robberies are related. According to police, the perpetrators have including crews with varying gang affiliations. At least six different LA street gangs have been identified, according to the LAPD.

"It is our opinion that these crimes are all a trend, similar to the trend experienced a year or two ago with the “knock-knock” burglaries in which different crews/gangs participated in the same type of residential burglary," the LAPD said in a written statement.

In years past, Los Angeles was plagued by a trend in which burglars targeted the homes of athletes and celebrities by using their touring and game schedules to determine if their homes would be empty.

The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information regarding these incidents is urged to contact the LAPD at (213) 486-6840. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477). Tipsters may also go to www.lapdonline.org and click on “Anonymous Web Tips.”

City News Service contributed to this report.