LOS ANGELES, Calif.–Five suspects were in custody today on suspicion of involvement in a violent armed robbery last week at a Nordstrom Rack store in Westchester, where 14 employees were held hostage and two were assaulted, one of them sexually.
The robbery was reported just after 10 p.m. Thursday by a spouse of an employee at the clothing store at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center.
“The investigators worked relentlessly for the next 48 hours to track down the assailants,” Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference this morning at police headquarters.
“By Saturday evening, Robbery-Homicide Division was able to identify and arrest the three suspects who committed the robbery,” Beck said. “Two additional individuals were also arrested for their actions after the robbery.”
Troy Hammock, 29, Everett Allen, 24, and Raymond Sherman Jr., 34, all of Los Angeles, were booked on suspicion of robbery. Hammock was held without bail on a parole hold, and Allen’s bail was set at $1 million. Sherman was being held in Phoenix, Ariz., without bail, pending his return to Los Angeles.
Rochelle Sherman, 33, and Paula Bradley, 29, both of Los Angeles, were booked on suspicion of being accessories to the crime. Each was held on $100,000 bail.
LAPD SWAT officers led the hostage victims to safety early Friday, several hours after two gunmen were reported to have entered the business. One hostage had been stabbed and another was sexually assaulted, Neiman said.
Police reportedly arrested one man Friday morning and another at a Phoenix motel.
A vehicle that may have been used by the suspects to flee the shopping center was later located near Washington Boulevard and Globe Avenue in Culver City. Some items possibly related to the store were recovered, according to Neiman.
The Promenade is an outdoor shopping center with stores, eateries, a miniature golf course and a cinema multiplex. The Nordstrom Rack store–a clearance outlet for the upscale department store–is on the second floor of the complex.
