Exclusive: Woman Shot During Beverly Hills Robbery Speaks Out
BEVERLY HILLS (CBSLA) — A violent robbery and shooting at a Beverly Hills restaurant last week sent Amanda Shawhan to the hospital after a bullet grazed her calf.
"Imagine someone tying a firecracker to your leg and then setting it off," she said of the frightening experience. "It was absolutely chaotic."
The shooting happened just after 2 p.m. Thursday in the 400 block of North Canon Drive at Il Pastaio. Joseph Low, Shawhan's attorney, said there have been 41 robberies, 86 simple assaults and 27 aggravated assaults in the area since last May, based on police records.
"Beverly Hills has become the new hunting ground for those who are looking for a quick snatch," Low said. "It can get violent, and it can get deadly and it needs to be fixed."
Low said he was not sure if any legal action was in the works, but said he was investigating what could be done to stop the increase in crime.
In the meantime, the Beverly Hills Police Department Chief Dominick Rivetti said Sunday that the city has added armed security guards to the area.
"What happened last Thursday was an anomaly," he said. "And it will not happen again."
But Shawhan was not the only one injured in the robbery. Another woman could be seen in video of the attack being trampled by one of the suspects who ran from the restaurant after the group stole a high-end watch from a male customer.
"I'm very broken emotionally," she said.
As for Shawhan, she said she hopes the suspects seen in the security video will do the right thing and turn themselves in.
"Obviously everyone at the restaurant, their lives are permanently altered for having this experience," she said.
According to police data, there has been a 300% increase in aggravated assaults in the city of Beverly Hills between December and January.