Man shot and robbed near Koreatown as suspects flee, police say

A man was in critical condition after being shot during a robbery near Koreatown, with two suspects stealing a watch and three gold chains, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting around 4:15 p.m. Friday in the 2800 block of Sunset Place, where they found the gunshot victim, LAPD Officer Hector Guzman said. The weapon allegedly used in the shooting was a semi-automatic handgun, Guzman said.

The victim has not been identified and the two suspects remain at large, police said.

The shooting took place in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, outside the skyscraper known as Kurve on Wilshire, KABC7 reported. The station said the watch taken was a Rolex.

Robberies in Los Angeles are up 11.7% from the same period a year earlier, according to crime statistics covering the period through Nov. 12. Earlier this year, an LAPD task force reported that at least 17 gangs were targeting some of the city’s wealthiest. residents, dispatching crews in multiple cars to find, track, and steal jewelry, designer handbags, and other high-end items.

In several of those incidents, the victims were punched, beaten or whipped with a gun, police said.

Yet these high-profile thefts were not limited to the city of LA.

In May, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a robbery in West Hollywood where four suspects allegedly stole $19,000 worth of luxury watches from two people. Two months later, two suspects were captured on video pistol-whipping a man and a woman before making off with a $60,000 Rolex in the parking lot of a 99 Ranch Market in the Valley community from San Gabriel to Rowland Heights.

A suspect in that case was arrested a month later.

Two weeks ago, a man was robbed in West Hollywood by a suspect who pointed a handgun at him and then ran him over with his car. Much of this incident was also filmed.