REDONDO BEACH : Mother, Son Arrested in Armored Car Robbery

Redondo Beach police arrested a suspected mother-and-son armored car robbery team after the 30-year-old son allegedly grabbed a cash bag from a Brinks guard and sped away amid a blaze of gunfire in a getaway car driven by his 49-year-old mother.

The suspects were identified as Luis Fernando Roca, 30, and Maria Aracely Riveria-Cordero, 49, both of La Puente. Redondo Beach Police Lt. Ken Keating said the two are possible suspects in other armored car robberies in the Los Angeles area. There also may be other arrests in the case, he said.

Keating said the incident began about 3 p.m. Wednesday at the Smith’s Food King market at 4001 Marine Ave. when a man walked up behind an armored car guard as he was making a cash delivery to the store. The man grabbed the guard’s gun and a bag containing an undetermined amount of cash, then jumped in the back seat of a getaway car. As the car pulled away, the robber fired four shots toward the Brinks truck with the guard’s gun, police said, but no one was injured.

Keating said Agent Jim Bell of the Redondo Beach Police Department happened to be in the market parking lot on routine patrol when he heard gunshots and saw a man holding a gun in a car. Bell pursued the car, capturing the man after he bailed out of the car with the money bag and fled. The woman was captured in the car shortly after. The money and a gun were recovered.

The suspects were being held in Redondo Beach jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.