Mall Closed 5 Hours as Police Seek Robbers

Hundreds of shoppers and employees fled the Topanga Plaza Mall on Friday as police spent five hours searching stores for a robber who was among four gunmen who held up a nearby bank.

But after searching the massive shopping complex with dogs, Los Angeles police officers determined that the bandit had escaped. Three other suspects were arrested, two of them in the mall.

“We’ve completed a search of the mall, and it appears the suspect has gotten away,” said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Gary Patton.

Patton justified the mall closure, saying: “I’ve got an armed suspect in there and I’m not going to allow the citizens in there on a shopping spree.”

Before officers could even set up yellow crime scene tape to bar shoppers from entering the mall, two men were arrested--one hiding in the bathroom of a hair salon and another near an escalator close to the Sears department store.

A third suspect was arrested on the roof of an apartment building at Kittridge Street and Glade Avenue, in view of police and television news helicopter crews.

The events began after an armed takeover-style robbery about 11 a.m. at Universal Bank on Erwin Street, in which no one was injured. Police said the four suspects left the bank in an Oldsmobile but abandoned it minutes later after an explosive dye pack in the stolen cash went off.

Officers from the West Valley station, alerted by a silent alarm inside the bank, saw one of the men shed some clothing before the gang ran into the crowded mall. Two customers helped pursuing officers locate two suspects, said LAPD Sgt. Vince Aguirre.

Police said they recovered the car, weapons and cash, and that the suspects were being held at the West Valley station. FBI spokesman John Hoos said federal investigators will try to determine whether the men were responsible for other bank robberies.

Many shoppers expressed shock at the daytime drama, although most appeared to take the inconvenience in good spirits.

Some employees remained in their stores while police searched the 151,460-square-foot complex.

Police blocked the entrances to the mall but said they did not order shoppers to leave and that most patrons left voluntarily.

Rather than evacuate all employees, police and mall security guards said they could remain as long as they shut shop gates, locked the doors and waited in back rooms, where possible.

Felicia Gordon, who works at the Limited clothing store, said she saw a man with a gun running toward the Robinsons May department store. Police initially believed the man was hiding in an air conditioning duct there, but that report proved to be false.

Officers also believed for a couple of hours that a female accomplice was hiding in the mall but that too was false, they said.

Although there were no official estimates of how much money was lost because of the mall closure, Gordon said the Limited probably lost about $1,000 and at least 60 customers.

“It was exciting,” she said. “It was all drama to me.”