Suspects allegedly shoot woman with airsoft gun

Three men are in jail after allegedly shooting a Huntington Beach woman with an airsoft pistols in Laguna Beach.

Kevin Khanh Pham, 19, of Garden Grove, James Lam, 22, of Garden Grove and Dung Tuan Nguyen, 20, of Westminster were arrested on suspicion of robbery and are being held in lieu of $100,000 bail, according to the police log.

The Laguna Beach Police Department responded to a 911 robbery call at 7:40 p.m. Saturday at South Coast Highway and Pearl Street, said Sgt. Louise Callus in an email.

The caller said two masked men with guns shot a woman in the back before fleeing in a white, four-door Lexus going north on Coast Highway, according to the log.

The woman, a 47-year-old Huntington Beach resident, was in pain but not bleeding, and no medic was needed, according to the log.

A witness gave police a vehicle description and plate numbers, Callus said.

When police arrived at the scene, the victim told officers she was walking to her vehicle when the suspects with black guns under towels demanded she give them her purse, Callus said.

A struggle ensued, but the suspects allegedly took her purse, leaving the woman with a cut on her finger and a small red mark in the center of her back.

Police issued a red channel broadcast with the vehicle’s description. A Westminster police officer responded to the broadcast that he was familiar with the vehicle’s registered owner, Callus said.

The officer went to the home of the vehicle’s registered owner to wait for the driver to return to the area.

Police spotted and stopped the vehicle around 9 p.m. and detained the three men in the vehicle. Laguna Beach police responded to the area and arrested all three men.

Evidence linking the suspects to the Laguna Beach robbery was found in the vehicle, Callus said.

All three suspects, who listed their occupation as unemployed, are being held in the Central Men’s Jail, according to jail records.

— Britney Barnes

Twitter: @britneyjbarnes