A pair of possibly connected, but certainly confusing, carjacking crimes on the Santa Monica/Venice Border sent local police departments into high gear Tuesday night but despite a flurry of activity, no suspects have been arrested.
The incidents began for the Santa Monica Police Department at about 8:30 p.m. when a man came to SMPD headquarters to report he was the victim of an attempted carjacking.
The victim said he was in his vehicle in Beach Lot 4 South (2030 Ocean Ave) when two suspects, both male Hispanics wearing masks, approached the car, pointed a gun at the victim, and ordered him out of the car.
The victim refused to surrender his car and one of the suspects shot one round at the car, striking the B Pillar (the vertical roof support structure located between the front and rear doors).
The suspects fled on foot southbound, and the victim drove around for a few minutes before driving to the police station to report the crime.
Responding officers recovered a single shell casing in the parking lot and during their investigation, SMPD officers saw the LAPD helicopter circling over Venice and realized LAPD was working an incident across the border in Venice that was reported to SMPD as a successful carjacking.
However, LAPD’s media relations office said their officers had responded to a call for a hit and run and while there was an extensive, if unsuccessful, search for suspects, they had not classified the incident as a carjacking by press time on Wednesday.
The suspect descriptions were similar in both incidents and SMPD said they are working with LAPD to determine if the two crimes are related.
The Santa Monica PD asks anyone with any additional information about this crime please call the non-emergency dispatch line at 310-458-8491 or the Watch Commander at 310-458-8427.
