IRVINE : Police Arrest Suspects in Two Carjackings

A man and a youth suspected of a carjacking Sunday in Irvine were arrested on suspicion of stealing a second car at gunpoint there Monday night, police said.

Aurelio Berumen, 19, of Westminster was booked into Orange County Jail on suspicion of carjacking, and his alleged 17-year-old accomplice from Anaheim was booked at Juvenile Hall after police saw them on the freeway in a car stolen near UC Irvine, said Irvine Police Lt. Sam Allevato.

The owner, Young Vu of Irvine, parked his car in a lot on Stanford Avenue about 8:30 p.m. when Berumen and the juvenile--one brandishing a handgun--walked up and demanded the keys, Allevato said. Vu complied and the pair drove the car away without hurting him.

Seven minutes later, Officer Barry Anigag saw the car going north on the San Diego Freeway and followed it. Backup officers helped pull over the car in Costa Mesa, near the intersection of Fairview Road and South Coast Drive, Allevato said.

The suspects are believed to be part of a threesome that stole a Honda at gunpoint Sunday at a shopping center on Barranca Parkway in Irvine. The third carjacker was still at large and the car had not been found, Allevato said.