Suspect Is Held After Beatings at Westminster Jewelry Store

Three gun-wielding men tied up and beat a jewelry store owner and an employee Thursday, police said.

Police, who arrested one man in connection with the robbery, said they have not determined if anything was taken from the Mai Ly Long jewelry store at 9938 Bolsa Ave.

Three men entered the store about 2 p.m. and demanded money, Police Lt. Bob Burnett said. One of the robbers then beat the store owner and tied up an employee.

After a few minutes, two of the robbers fled from the store and left in a car, witnesses told police. Left alone, the third robber ran outside the store and commandeered a passing car at gunpoint, Burnett said.

The robber then drove off with a man and woman in the car before police spotted the car a few blocks from the store and stopped it near Brookhurst Street and Bolsa Avenue, Burnett said.

The pair in the car were not injured. Officers arrested Dat Truong Ngo, 22, on suspicion of armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and kidnaping, Burnett said.

Ngo was being held at Orange County Jail in Santa Ana. Information on bail was not available late Thursday.

Paramedics took the jewelry store owner to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, police said. The name of the store owner was not available late Thursday. The employee was not hospitalized, Burnett said.