Thieves who hit Macy's store in Brea arrested after trying to escape in rideshare
A group of thieves were arrested after they stole from a Macy's store in Brea and attempted to flee from the scene by calling a rideshare.
Brea Police Department officers were dispatched at around 11:50 a.m. Tuesday morning after learning of a suspicious person in the Brea Mall's parking lot near the Macy's.
While they arrested that man, the officers received a different call about an armed "purse-snatching" at a Wells Fargo bank nearby. Despite investigation, they were unable to locate a victim.
"As our officers continued their investigation, they were able to link the person that called in the purse-snatching to the person they had in custody," said Brea Police Department Lieutenant Chris Harvey. "It had been a fabricated call."
Shortly after, officers learned of an alleged grand theft that had just occurred inside of the Macy's store. They witnessed the suspects getting into a car and attempted to pull them over.
However, they failed to stop and sped off from the area, prompting officers to engage in pursuit, which was called off a short time later due to the dangerous nature of the chase.
"A short time after that several more astute citizens called us to the location of hte car and suspects," Lieutenant Harvey said. "As our officers arrived in that area, they located the three suspects getting into a rideshare — either a Uber or Lyft — and our officers were able to detain those suspects at the location."
Laurel Elementary School, located near the spot of the arrest, was placed on lockdown out of precaution as the suspects were arrested.
Their identities have not yet been released.
