Arrests End Heist, Gunfire, Chase

Men who allegedly held up a jewelry store, exchanged gunfire with an employee, hijacked a car, dashed into stores and led police on a chase were arrested Tuesday.

Police from Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach gave this account:

Robbers walked into Winston’s Newport Jewelers in the 1700 block of Newport Boulevard at 11:05 a.m., posing as customers. Two men pulled handguns and announced they were robbing the store.

They handcuffed two female employees to the counter by the ankles and forced a male worker and the jewelry store owner into a back room. As the robbers removed jewelry and watches from the display cases, an employee who had just left the store called police from a nearby restaurant.

After collecting the merchandise, the robbers tried to escape in a Cadillac that police later suspected had been stolen from Long Beach. Police said one of the employees fired a handgun at the car, and a man in the car returned the fire. No one was hit, but the gunshots shattered the rear window.

Plainclothes officers said they saw the Cadillac being driven recklessly near Monrovia Avenue and 19th Street and began a pursuit through Costa Mesa. In the 9800 block of Adams Avenue, the car went into the parking lot of Mervyn’s department store. Four men fled into that store and apparently began taking clothes off the rack to change, police said.

After leaving the store, two men approached a Ford Aerostar van in the parking lot and forced the driver out at gunpoint. They drove the van west on Adams as police followed. The chase ended at Yorktown Avenue and Brookhurst Street when officers were able to block the van.

Police arrested two men in the van, identified as Edwin Kizzee, 30, of Palmdale and Robert Charles Tillett, 21, of Los Angeles. The two other suspects, Ron Simmons, 28, and Tramaine Howard Cooper, 28, had taken refuge in a JoAnn’s fabric and craft store and surrendered after police surrounded the store.

Investigators recovered three handguns but are still looking for the jewelry, estimated at $200,000.

The four men are being held on suspicion of armed robbery and grand theft of the car. In addition, Kizzee and Tillett were booked on suspicion of carjacking.