Armed men break into West LA home, tie up couple
Authorities are searching for a group of armed men who broke into a home in the Sawtelle neighborhood of West Los Angeles Tuesday night, tied up the couple who live there and robbed it.
The home invasion occurred at about 11 p.m. in the 2100 block of Butler Avenue.
The suspects, brandishing at least one handgun, broke into the home while two people were inside, Los Angeles police said.
The victim described vivid details of being robbed with guns pointed at him.
"I was rushed by three men," said the victim, who asked to remain anonymous. "Two of them holding guns that I could see."
The victim had just returned home after walking his dog. He believes that the suspects jumped over a neighbor's wall to get around his gates.
The suspects stole several watches.
"I'm in the watch business," the victim told CBSLA. "I don't own the business. I do the online ads for the company that is an online seller. I always got some watches at home because I'm doing research for our ads."
This is the second-known case of a person in the luxury watch business being robbed in the West L.A. area in recent weeks.
The victim said he didn't put up a fight because the masked men had guns. He said they tied up both him and his wife.
"One of them went up, grabbed my wife, tied her up with a zip tie, and forced me to take them up into the room where I had my watches, and they basically took the watches and they were gone, two minutes later," he said.
The victim had a warning for the community.
"Just be vigilant," he said. "There's a lot of nasty people out there. You just have to be aware of your surroundings."
The value of the stolen watches was not disclosed. The couple were not seriously hurt.
It was unclear if the crime was related to an attempted home invasion that occurred at about 1:20 a.m. Wednesday in the 8000 block of Burton Way in Beverly Grove, where two men reportedly tried to force their way into a home but were scared off by shots fired by the resident.