LONG BEACH, Calif. – Detectives were investigating three similar armed carjackings in just over a week in the same North Long Beach area and promised increased patrol presence, officials said Saturday.
The latest crime occurred around 9 p.m. Friday in the 2600 block of 55th Way, according to the Long Beach Police Department.
A man told police he was unloading his vehicle in a carport when three men approached him and demanded his keys. One allegedly pointed a handgun at him. They took the victim’s vehicle and were gone when officers arrived.
On April 29, officers were dispatched at about 2:20 p.m. to the 1600 block of Jackson Street where a female juvenile had been carjacked. She told officers she picked up a boy she knew and was approached by three man when she stopped at that location. One man reached through the front passenger’s side window and pointed a gun at her while two men pulled her out of the vehicle and the three men took off in the vehicle with the boy.
Three men also took a vehicle at gunpoint at about 8 p.m. on April 28 in the 5500 block of Ackerfield Avenue, police said. A man was getting out of his vehicle in a carport when three men approached him and one suspect pointed a gun at him, demanding his keys and other belongings. One suspect fired a shot into the air during that robbery, police said. They drove off in the victim’s vehicle before officers arrived.
The LBPD promised increased patrol presence in the areas of the carjackings and offered robbery safety tips at https://bit.ly/3VDVrwM.