Three suspects robbed three teenagers several minutes apart from each other as they were walking home from school on April 5 at about 3:30 p.m. in La Crescenta.
The victims, all students at Crescenta Valley High School, were just blocks away from the school as they were approached separately by the suspects within several blocks of each other. Two of the victims are 17 years old and the third is 15.
Crescenta Valley Station patrol deputies initially responded to the intersection of Foothill Boulevard and Glenwood Avenue in response to a robbery call. While conducting their investigation at that location they soon learned that two additional robberies had taken place on nearby Ramsdell Avenue.
The victim on Foothill Boulevard reported that he was slapped and kicked by one of the suspects. The suspect also displayed a pistol stuck in his waistband in an attempt to coerce the victim to give up any valuables. Fortunately a nearby citizen who observed the robbery and yelled at the suspects, forcing them to flee, interrupted this robbery. The victim was not seriously injured by the assault.
The other two victims were forced by threats from the suspects to surrender a cellphone, cash and a baseball cap.
After interviewing the three victims, deputies realized that the description of the suspects and the car seen in the robberies was the same. This information was relayed to assisting units. Within minutes, an alert deputy from the Sheriff’s Department COPS Bureau located the suspects in the parking lot of a shopping center at the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue in La Crescenta. All three suspects were arrested and the victims’ stolen property was recovered. Deputies also located a BB gun that resembled a real pistol in the suspects’ car.
The male suspects were identified as Austin Cho, 24, of Granada Hills; Young Kum, 24, of Los Angeles; and Edward Shin, 24, of Los Angeles. The suspects were booked for robbery at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station and are being held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Students are reminded that they should always walk to and from school in groups and to always be aware of their surroundings.
Anyone who may have information about these robberies is asked to contact the Crescenta Valley Station Detective Bureau at (818) 248-3464, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers by dialing (800) 222-TIPS (8477), texting the letters TIPLA plus the tip to CRIMES (274637), or using the website http://lacrimestoppers.org.