The State : 3 Men Sought in Crime Spree

In a wave of incidents police believe may be related, three men brandished a submachine gun, assaulted a couple, robbed a man and raped his female companion, then ran their car into a woman on a bicycle, officers said. The crime spree began in La Palma, when three men dressed in long overcoats assaulted a 21-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl, police said. The men were frightened away by a crowd of pedestrians. About 20 minutes later, three men brandishing a semiautomatic weapon robbed an 18-year-old couple at Cerritos Regional Park, Orange County sheriff’s deputies said. The men took the couple’s money and jewelry, then made the man lie face down on the ground while they raped the woman. Shortly afterward, three men with a submachine gun tried to force a woman on a bicycle a few miles from the park into their car. When the woman refused, deputies said, they rammed her with their car. She suffered cuts and bruises.