4 Youths Arrested in Shoe Store Holdup, Pursuit
Four youths held up a shoe store Sunday, stealing cowboy boots and cash before leading police on a high-speed freeway chase that ended when the getaway car got stuck on a railroad crossing in Los Angeles, authorities said.
No one was hurt at the shoe store or during the freeway chase, and police arrested the four juveniles in the car on suspicion of armed robbery, said Costa Mesa Police Sgt. George Yezbick.
Yezbick said four youths, three of them brandishing handguns, burst into Jumping Jack Shoes on 19th Street shortly after 4 p.m.
The men handcuffed the owner and a customer, then made off with shoes, cowboy boots, belts, jewelry and $400 in cash, Yezbick said.
A store employee telephoned police at 4:18 p.m. to report that the robbers were driving north on Harbor Boulevard in a gray Buick, Yezbick said. A small fleet of police cars chased the car on the San Diego Freeway at speeds exceeding 100 mph.
Yezbick said the chase ended about 10 minutes later when the car left the freeway at Normandie Avenue and “got hung up” at a railroad crossing.
The four occupants were taken into custody without further incident.
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