Last week, armed suspects stole $75,000 worth of jewelry, cash and electronics from four men who were renting an Airbnb in the Beverly Crest neighborhood of Los Angeles, police said.
The incident is believed to be “tracked house robbery”, a criminal trend in which suspects target victims, track them and then rob them as they travel to isolated areas such as their homes.
Wednesday morning’s incident happened after four men visiting from northern California returned to their rental after dinner.
They were targeted by thieves who followed them in vehicles through West Hollywood and uptown Beverly Crest before approaching them in the driveway, police said. NBC Los Angeles.
The suspects forced their way into the Airbnb at gunpoint and ransacked the property. No one was injured, but the thieves recovered $75,000 worth of stolen items, the outlet reported.
Los Angeles police declined a request for comment from NBC News Monday afternoon, including whether any suspects have been arrested.
In a brief statement last week, police said the incident happened around 1.35am and the suspects were wearing dark clothing.
An Airbnb representative could not be immediately reached.
More than a dozen gangs in the Los Angeles area target people in this type of house robbery, police said earlier this month.
In a suspected attack on April 11, a woman leaving a jewelry store in downtown Los Angeles was followed by two people in a silver Dodge Challenger, police said in a press release. As she approached At an intersection, one of the people got out of the Challenger, approached his car and used an unknown tool to smash his driver’s side window.
“The victim attempted to flee but was unable due to heavy traffic. When his vehicle stopped, the victim exited his vehicle and ran west on 8th Street to ask help,” police said.
The robbers, one of whom was allegedly armed with a gun, chased the woman into their vehicle, hit her with their car and drove out. The victim “immediately took off his watch and threw it in the street,” police said. The thieves took the watch and fled.
The woman suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
Police announced in November that they were forming a work group to combat the problem.
Detectives noted that the victims were followed from places such as Melrose Avenue, the Los Angeles jewelry district and high-end restaurants and nightclubs in the Hollywood and Wilshire divisions, police said in a statement.
The Follow Home task force was to be made up of 20 detectives from the police department’s robbery and homicide division and other divisions, police said, in an effort to identify the thieves and their ‘associated crews’. .
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