Robbery Thwarted at Liquor Store

Two plainclothes police officers cut short an armed robbery by suspected gang members at a liquor store early Friday, authorities said.

While on a break at 1 a.m., officers Frank Gordon and Evan Sailor entered the Bal-Harbor liquor store in the 500 block of East Balboa Boulevard. Inside the store, police said, Gordon noticed a teen-ager standing near the cash register take a pistol out of his waistband.

However, when a second teen-ager--apparently acting as a lookout just inside the front door--signaled the arrival of another customer, the young man near the cash register returned his gun to his waistband, Gordon said.

Gordon signaled Sailer what was going on, and the two officers then drew their own weapons and stepped behind the suspected robbers and two suspected accomplices, ordering them to surrender, police said.

Three of the youths complied, but the lookout fled to a nearby parking lot where he was captured by other officers alerted by the officers inside the store.

Those arrested were identified as members of a San Bernardino street gang. They included: Agustin Mesa and Manuel Leyva, both 18 and from San Bernardino; a 16-year-old boy from Rialto and a 14-year-old girl from Colton.

Each of the adults was being held in lieu of posting $50,000 bail at the Newport Beach Police Department jail facility, and the two juveniles were released to their parents, police said.

Police said that in addition to a pistol recovered from Mesa, officers found a second pistol in the group’s car.