One Man Killed, 4 Wounded In Shootout During Robbery Outside Hollywood Hills Home Of Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – One man was killed and four others wounded in a shootout during a robbery attempt outside the Hollywood Hills home of Fashion Nova CEO Richard Saghian early Friday morning.
The shooting was reported at 2:05 a.m. outside the home in the area of Blue Jay Way and Thrasher Avenue.
"Boom, boom, boom, it was a lot of gunshots going on," Eric Fujier, a neighbor of Saghian, told CBSLA.
According to Los Angeles police, two suspects were driving down Blue Jay Way when they saw two men on the street. The men were believed to have been visiting Saghian.
The suspects robbed the men of high-end items, and during the execution of the robbery, a security guard for Saghian saw what was happening and tried to intervene.
"He (the security guard) got out of the car, he intervened, he shot the bad guys, he got shot in the stomach, he's in critical condition," Fujier said.
During the exchange of gunfire, the security guard, the two robbery victims and the two suspects were all wounded.
The suspects jumped into the back of a dark-colored Audi sedan with a getaway driver and sped away, police said.
A short time later, that same car was spotted and pulled over by police at Santa Monica Boulevard and Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. One of the suspects was pronounced dead at the scene from his gunshot wounds.
"At that time, they did a traffic stop," LAPD Det. Meghan Aguilar said. "The three men were in the car. They requested the fire department because two of those men were suffering from gunshot wounds."
The second suspect was taken to a hospital, police said. He was handcuffed to a stretcher as he was loaded into an ambulance. The driver was arrested.
Meanwhile, the security guard and the two robbery victims were also hospitalized. The security guard, a retired law enforcement officer, was in critical condition. The conditions of the two robbery victims was unclear, but both were stable, police disclosed.
A representative for Saghian told CBSLA that he was not robbed or injured in the incident. It's unclear if he was in the home at the time of the shooting.
A handgun was recovered from the Audi. There was no word if the stolen items were also found in the vehicle.
Investigators are unsure if this was a crime of opportunity, or if Saghian was targeted. No names have been released.