Glendale police officer fires on robbery suspect at Eagle Rock mall
A Glendale police officer fired shots on Wednesday after responding to a reported cellphone robbery outside a Target in Eagle Rock.
Authorities said a woman called police around 1:50 p.m. saying a man stole her cellphone while she was standing in front of the Target at the Eagle Rock Plaza. Someone at the mall was able to point out the suspect to an officer arriving on scene.
Sgt. Dan Suttles, a spokesman for the Glendale Police Department, said the suspect immediately ran away into the mall’s parking lot once he saw the officer.
“The guy then got into a vehicle and started to drive away,” he said. “At that point our officer took four shots at the suspect while in the car. Thankfully the shots didn’t hit anybody and no one was injured.”
Suttles said the suspect eventually abandoned the vehicle near the Glendale (2) Freeway at York Boulevard.
Police soon got a call from someone in the Eagle Rock area saying a relative had come home saying the cops shot at him.
“We went over to that house and negotiated a peaceful surrender with the man,” Suttles said.
The suspect is described as a male in his early 20s and the incident remains under investigation.
The police activity caused the area around the mall to be temporarily closed to traffic, including the Colorado Boulevard off-ramp near the northbound 2 Freeway. A portion of the parking lot in front of the Target was also closed off for several hours.
Stephen Sulzberger said he went to the store around 2 p.m. for what was supposed to be a quick trip to buy batteries. When he came out of the store police had not yet closed off the parking lot.
“When I went over to my vehicle and put my stuff in, I saw a big yellow police line go across my trunk,” he said. “Then an officer told me to get back to the store.”
At 7 p.m. the parking lot remained closed.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
UPDATES:
7:30 p.m.: This article was updated with information that the parking lot was still closed.
6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information from Glendale police.
This article was originally published at 4:05 p.m.
