Deputies Track Down 2 Suspects After Holdup of Home Savings

Three bandits robbed a Quartz Hill branch of Home Savings of America Wednesday, but two suspects were arrested after a witness helped locate them, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The two are also suspected of a carjacking in West Los Angeles last week, deputies said.

Their identities were not released.

Three men entered the bank at 4 p.m., one of them brandishing a semiautomatic pistol, authorities said. They made off with an undisclosed amount of money in a black Nissan Sentra, said Deputy Mike Parker.

No one was injured in the bank, Parker said.

Soon after, Sheriff’s Sgt. Kraig Petersen discovered the Sentra abandoned a few blocks from the bank, ran a computer check and learned it was stolen in West Los Angeles last week. A witness told Petersen that he saw three suspicious-looking men leave the car and drive away in a Chevrolet Suburban. The witness provided a partial reading of the Suburban’s license plate.

Petersen used his squad car’s mobile computer to try possible missing digits of the plate and found one registered to an address in Palmdale near the intersection of West 45th Street and Avenue N-8, Parker said.

There, he discovered a Suburban matching the witness’ description and called in more officers to help with the arrest.

Two suspects matching the bank robbers’ description were arrested and two money containers from the bank were recovered. The money and the third suspect were still being sought.