Watch CBS News

2 Arrested For String Of Robberies, Police Investigate Possible Link To MTV Employee's Murder

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Two men were arrested Wednesday in connection with a string of armed robberies in the Koreatown, Harvard Heights and West Adams areas, but a police captain said detectives have not linked the hold-ups to the slaying of an MTV music coordinator.

Late this morning, officers swarmed a parking lot in the area of Washington Boulevard and Tenth Avenue and took two people into custody at gunpoint. They also impounded a light blue sedan that appeared to match the general description of a vehicle used in the crimes.

Podcast

LAPD Arrests 2 For Shotgun Robberies

By late afternoon, one of the suspects who had been detained was arrested, and information he provided led them to a second suspect, police said.

The names of the suspects were not immediately released.

Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Matt Blake said police believed the same suspects may have been involved in as many as nine robberies that occurred in the area beginning April 29.

The robberies included at least one instance in which a victim fought back, prompting one of the suspects to open fire, Blake said. The victim was not injured.

Blake insisted, however, that police have not connected the robberies to Sunday's slaying of MTV music coordinator Gabriel Aron Ben-Meir in the mid-Wilshire area.

Blake also noted that a person was killed by a shotgun blast in the areaon April 30 during an apparent attempted robbery.

"When he (the victim) didn't give up his property, he (the suspect) turned the shotgun on him, and he is deceased," Blake said.

Blake said the robbery suspects also had not been linked to that killing, although he conceded there were similarities in the crimes and that "shotguns are kind of a rare weapon to be used in a street crime."

As for Ben-Meir's killing, Blake said officers could not link it to the robbery string until a weapon was recovered.

 (©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.