Robbery Victim Shot While Trying to Run Down Suspect

Victims of an armed robber outside an upscale restaurant tried to run the gunman down with a car, but the robber shot one of them and escaped, police said Friday.

The victim, a 40-year-old man who was not identified, was in good condition at an Encino hospital with a bullet wound in his arm, Detective Robert Johansen said.

Two couples left the Trilussa restaurant in the 16900 block of Ventura Boulevard after dining Thursday night, Johansen said.

As they reached their car, parked on a nearby side street near Encino Park, they were confronted by a teen-age boy with a semiautomatic handgun. He ordered them to the ground, took their purses and wallets and fled along Paso Robles Avenue toward Ventura Boulevard, Johansen said.

The two men jumped into their car and searched for the robber. Sighting him behind a restaurant, they tried to run him down, but the thief fired two shots into the car and escaped again.

“They were lucky it wasn’t worse,” Johansen said. “We don’t want victims to chase and try to capture or attack their suspects.”

Johansen described the holdup as unusual on two counts--the youth of the robber, who appeared to be about 17, and the fact that he was willing to confront four people near a public park.

No arrests have been made in the case.