MELROSE—Two teenage sisters, 16 and 18, were pulled to the ground by their hair and robbed of their cellphones in the Fairfax district on Wednesday, February 2. The incident occurred in the 7600 block of Melrose Avenue – at the time, the girls were on their way to school at Fairfax High. The Los Angeles Police Department are searching for four suspects who committed the crime.
Surveillance footage from an Urban Outfitters store on Melrose captured the two victims walking by at 7:20 a.m., when two female suspects attacked them from behind. The suspects demanded the victim’s cellphones and held them by their hair until they gave them their access codes to unlock the devices, according to the LAPD. Two male suspects, also caught on video, were standing by as lookouts. All of the suspects fled in a black Kia sedan with tinted windows.
About an hour after the incident, another male student was robbed of his cellphone on his way to Los Angeles High School on Olympic Boulevard, by the same suspects in the same getaway car, LAPD Lt. Daniel Gonzalez indicated. One female suspect is believed to be around 18 years old. There has been a rise in robberies in the Melrose-Fairfax area in the past year.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact Wilshire Community Police Station Robbery Detective Flores at (213) 922-8217. Call (877) 527- 3247 during non-business or weekend hours. Tipsters can remain anonymous.
