Unusual Armed Robberies Escalate in Coachella

COACHELLA – Organized criminals execute two successful armed robberies and remain at large.

Early Sunday morning on August 12 officers from the Coachella Police Department responded to a call that two victims had been robbed. The crime occurred in the 48000 block of Harrison St. in Coachella at 5:44 AM. No one was harmed, but the thieves escaped with stolen property.

The two male victims at the scene reported that they had been at a local casino. The two men were approached by two Hispanic females, asking for a ride in their vehicle. The victims did not know the women, but complied, driving them to a nearby gas station. The women exited the vehicle at which time a Hispanic male appeared, brandishing a gun and demanding any valuable items the men had. The victims then gave the suspect several items of property.

Once the items had been taken the two women, along with the suspect, fled the scene in a vehicle described as silver-colored, and was driven by a second male. The two victims then began to follow this car. However, the suspect fired several rounds at them and they ceased the chase.

Authorities are still looking for the perpetrators in this incident, which follows another recent instance of armed robbery in Coachella.

The jogger was robbed on Ave 50 in this neighborhood

On Tuesday, August 7, at 9:00 p.m., officers from the Coachella Police Department responded to an armed robbery in the 84000 block of Avenue 50 in which a jogger was robbed. The victim was approached by two unknown males, one of whom threatened him with a handgun and demanded his property. The victim complied and the suspects fled on foot with items belonging to the victim. The suspects were described as an 18 year-old male Hispanic and an adult Hispanic male in his 20s.

The Riverside Sheriff’s Department and Coachella Police Department are not suggesting that these two robberies are related.

Anyone with information about either of these incidents is asked to contact Investigator Butvidas from the Thermal Sheriff’s Station Investigations Bureau at 760-863-8990.

Read More:

SWRNN.com: Thermal: Two men robbed at gunpoint after giving two women a ride