Man Robbed at Gunpoint Outside Vons

A 21-year-old Eagle Rock resident was robbed Friday evening at gunpoint by three men outside the Vons supermarket on North Figueroa Street near Highland Park, according to the LAPD.

The victim had exited the Vons parking lot in a truck, a white, two-door 2003 Ford Ranger, and was waiting for the eastbound traffic to clear on Colorado Boulevard so that he could drive west toward Eagle Rock proper, when three men came up to his open window. One of them pointed a blue-steel semiautomatic pistol at him.

“Give me your money, fool,” the armed suspect said to the truck driver, according to Officer Young Honor, who wrote the robbery report at the LAPD’s Northeast Community Police Station.

Minutes before he was robbed, the victim had gone inside the Vons store to cash a $980 check at a branch of the Wells Fargo bank. He handed over the money, with his wallet, to the armed robber, Honor said.

The blue and gray dual-fold wallet also contained the victim’s California driver's license and a Macy’s credit card, Honor said. “I think they watched him cash the check inside the store,” the officer added.

The robbery occurred at about 6:50 p.m. and the victim reported it at the Northeast police station at 8 p.m., Honor said.

After the suspects got the victim’s wallet, they ran in front of his truck and fled in the direction of Figueroa Street, Honor said, adding that the victim was scared and let the robbers pass in front of his truck.

Young described the victim, whose name was not disclosed for police investigatory reasons, as a Latino construction worker who said he was a “cement mason.”

A Vons security guard at the Figueroa Street store, which is barely half a mile from the border of Highland Park, said he arrived on duty at 7 p.m. and hadn’t heard of any robbery on or near the store’s property. Several Vons employees inside the store also said they were unaware of the incident.