3 Held in Gunpoint Theft of Car at Shopping Center

Four youths took a woman’s car at gunpoint Thursday afternoon in the parking lot of Grossmont Center in La Mesa, but police arrested three of them and recovered the car after a brief chase.

William Norris Allen, 18, of Chula Vista was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and car theft. Two juveniles were also arrested. The fourth suspect escaped.

No one was hurt in the incident, which police said resembles several other car thefts at gunpoint that have occurred during past weeks around San Diego County.

Police said that a woman was sitting in her four-door sedan in front of Long’s drugstore at 3:47 p.m. when four youths, one armed with handgun, walked up and pulled her out of the car.

The youths then got in and drove off toward Interstate 8, police said, while witnesses called police. La Mesa Police Officer Alan Leff positioned his car on the freeway at 70th Street, spotted the fleeing assailants as they passed and gave chase, Lt. Carl Wirtz said.

The car jumped a shrub and crashed near 54th Street and El Cajon Boulevard in San Diego at 3:57 p.m., Wirtz said. Converging La Mesa and San Diego officers arrested two suspects on the spot.

The other two ran from the scene, but a San Diego police helicopter helped officers catch one of them, Wirtz said. Police said they found a handgun in the car.