This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Crime & Safety

Masked Gunman Robs Los Alamitos Starbucks

The armed robber made employees kneel on the ground while he took cash from the register and safe at the Katella Avenue coffeehouse, according to the Los Alamitos Police Department.

While forcing two workers to kneel at gunpoint, a man in a black ski mask robbed the register and a safe at a Los Alamitos Starbucks, authorities said. 

At about 4:50 a.m. March 15, a thin man in his 20s entered the coffeehouse at 3575 Katella Avenue and pointed what appeared to be silver, semi-automatic handgun at the employee behind the counter and demanded money, according to Los Alamitos Police Department Captain Bruce McAlpine. 

The employee was unable to open the registers or the business safe, so the man walked the employee at gunpoint into the rear of the store where the manager was doing paperwork, according to police. Then the man demanded the manager open the registers and the safe, McAlpine said.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After the manager complied, the gunman ordered the employees to kneel on the floor while he took money from the safe and registers and placed the money in a Starbucks bag.

“Neither victim ... (was) injured during the crime, and we won’t be releasing the amount of monetary loss other (than) US currency,” McAlpine said in an email.

Find out what's happening in Los Alamitos-Seal Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The man was described as about 6 foot 1 inch tall and 175 pounds with a medium build. He had brown dreadlocks and was wearing a black ski mask, black gloves, black pants, black shoes and a black security uniform jacket with “Officer Private security" emblazoned on the front.

After taking the money, the man fled on foot towards a waiting vehicle driven by another man.

The second man was described as in his 20s, between 5 feet 9 inches tall to 6 feet tall, about 150 pound and wearing a shirt and light colored pants.

Stay Patched in! Like Los Alamitos Patch on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter and sign up for the daily email with links to the latest local news.

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.