Brea : Police Chase Down 3 Suspects After Robbery

Three Vietnamese men were arrested Tuesday morning for allegedly storming into a manicure shop and stealing two employees’ purses at gunpoint, police said.

The men fled, Brea Police Lt. Bill Lentini said, but two of them were quickly captured, and a “bush-by-bush search” turned up the third suspect.

Arrested on suspicion of armed robbery were Ky Nuynh Phan, 18, of Garden Grove, Tran Dac Wan, 31, of Anaheim and Hien Huu Tran Nguyen, 18, who police believe is a transient.

The suspects were booked into Brea City Jail on $50,000 bail each, police said.

Moments after 9 a.m., officers said, two Asian men entered Annie Nails at 17499 E. Imperial Highway. One drew a silver, .25-caliber automatic handgun and pointed it at the head of one of the employees, a 22-year-old Vietnamese woman. She and her co-worker were ordered in Vietnamese to surrender their purses, police said.

The two suspects fled in an orange Honda.

A short time later, after a police radio bulletin described the alleged getaway vehicle, Brea Officer Austin Phillips spotted an orange Honda on Imperial Highway. Phillips and Officers Clyde Wason and Monica Bartram joined in the chase.

Police said the orange car soon pulled into the parking lot of the Brea Plaza shopping center and three men jumped out and ran.

Lentini said one man was tackled immediately, a second suspect was chased and caught a short time later, and a third suspect managed to scale a fence and disappear into a drainage canal. That suspect was located within 30 minutes, Lentini said.