Southeast / Long Beach
REWARD QUANDARY: Cerritos officials are trying to decide whether to hand two local residents a $5,000 reward that they offered recently for information leading to the arrest of alleged pellet- and BB-gun wielding vandals who shot out at least 84 car windshields during the past month and a half.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies say they have no doubt that four teen-agers they arrested last week are responsible for the spate of vandalism, which cost car owners $300 to $500 per shattered windshield.
But detectives say they are unsure whether police are entirely responsible for making the catch. Although the suspects were arrested when deputies pulled over the suspects’ white Toyota 4-Runner for making a wide, high-speed turn and nearly hitting a patrol car, it turns out the suspects were fleeing two residents who said they had just seen the youths shoot one last windshield.
The residents, whose names are not being released, chased the suspects from the scene in a car and managed to get their license plate number.
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