World enews: Shocking video shows two men robbing LA mother and baby in broad daylight

A video released by Los Angeles police shows a shocking daytime robbery of a woman returning home with her baby.

In the surveillance footage, a mother opens the gate outside her home in Hancock Park, LA, pushing her baby in a stroller. As she walks into her driveway, two men wander in through the open gate. They approach the woman, corner her against a hedge, and grab her belongings.

Police say the robbery took place at about 5:10pm on 28 November – in broad daylight.

“The female victim and her infant child were returning home from a walk,” the Los Angeles Police Department explained on Facebook. “As they approached the steps leading to the front door of their home Suspect-1 and Suspect-2 approached them and demanded that she hand over property.

“Fearing for her and her child’s safety, the victim complied and allowed suspect-1 to take her diaper bags and bottle cooler. The two suspects proceed to run into a waiting vehicle that was parked across the street from the victim’s home and flee northbound from the location.”

As the two men run off, the mother and baby appear unharmed. The woman lifts her child out of the stroller and heads toward her front door, pulling out her phone – possibly to call 911.

Police have released a detailed description of the two suspects, as well as their getaway car.

“Both suspects described as a male, Black, 20-29 yrs old, in a silver sedan with tinted windows, who targeted a female & her infant returning home,” the LAPD said in a tweet of the video.

Police have not released the name of the victim, and have not yet identified the suspects. They are asking for the public’s help in finding them.

“Any info call Wilshire Detectives (213) 922-8217 or http://lacrimestoppers.org,” the LAPD tweeted.

Unfortunately, police say robberies like this one are part of a growing trend. The so-called “follow-home” robberies – of which 110 incidents have already been logged this year – involve criminals targeting people based on their jewellery, cars or other signals of wealth and pursuing them to their homes or workplaces.

Police say the robberies typically take place in affluent LA neighbourhoods, such as Melrose Avenue, the Jewellery District, nightclubs in Hollywood and Wilshire, or “high-end restaurants.”

“In early 2021, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Division identified an ongoing crime trend of follow-home robberies,” a spokesperson for the LAPD said. “As a result of this, RHD detectives began to track the various robberies that were being reported. In reviewing these reports and speaking with area detectives, it is clear that not all these incidents are related, in terms of the same suspects committing these crimes.”

The Independent has reached out to the LAPD for further comment.