3 Dawn Stickups in 3 Cities May Be Related

Three robberies that occurred within a half hour in three adjacent cities early Saturday morning may be related, authorities said.

At 5:45 a.m., a Shell station at Beach Boulevard and McFadden Avenue in Westminster was robbed by a man wearing a bandanna and armed with a chrome-plated handgun. No car was seen, said Sgt. Darrick Vincent of the Westminster Police Department.

About 10 minutes later, a Chevron station in the 12500 block of Seal Beach Boulevard in Seal Beach was robbed by a man wearing a ski mask. No car was seen in that holdup either, said Sgt. Jim Johnson of the Seal Beach Police Department.

“There are some similarities among the robberies,” Johnson said. “The suspect is described as a black male with a handgun, wearing a white sweater and dark pants. He was in his mid-20s to early 30s, and possibly wearing gloves.”

In neighboring Los Alamitos, the Best Western Los Alamitos Inn, 10591 Los Alamitos Blvd., was robbed by two armed men at 6:10 a.m. said Sgt. John Hust of the Los Alamitos Police Department.

The robbers emptied the cash drawer and change box, taking about $686, Hust said.

The first robber held a chrome-plated semiautomatic handgun and was described as a black male, 20 to 28, 6 feet to 6 feet, 2 inches, 180 to 200 pounds, wearing a blue scarf over his face, a light-colored shirt and dark pants. The second, also a black man, is 18 to 25 years old, 5 feet, 9 inches to 5 feet, 11 inches, 145 to 160 pounds, and was similarly dressed.

Vincent said each robbery took less than five minutes. “They may be related because they happened at around the same time, and we usually don’t get robberies at 5 or 6 in the morning,” he said.