Police Impede Boys’ Winchell’s Robbery
It was the wrong place for a robbery.
Two teen-agers learned that lesson Saturday morning after one of them brandished a semiautomatic handgun at a clerk behind the counter of Winchell’s Donut House at 20918 Ventura Blvd. in Woodland Hills, police said. Just as they appeared ready to demand money, two Los Angeles police officers walked through the front door.
Upon spotting the officers, who came in for coffee, one of the youths tossed the handgun to the floor, Sgt. Dan Mastro said. The boys, 14 and 15, were taken into custody on suspicion of attempted robbery, Mastro said.
The clerk told officers that the same youths had robbed the shop on Ventura Boulevard and De Soto Avenue on a previous occasion, Mastro said.
Whatever the case, the incident shattered a common myth that doughnut shops, because they’re police hangouts, are crime-free, Mastro suggested.
“There’s no place that’s sacred or safe any more, including doughnut shops,” Mastro said.
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