Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore announced Tuesday that the LAPD will create a task force to investigate “follow-home robberies.”
The announcement comes after a man was shot and killed outside the Bossa Nova Restaurant, in the 7100 block of Sunset Boulevard, at 2:10 a.m. in what Moore said is believed to be tied to follow-home robberies, in which robbers follow people who are wearing high-end jewelry or have expensive vehicles or other belongings.
Moore said the 23-year-old victim was “coming to the aid of a female who was being attacked” when he was killed.
The Robbery Homicide Follow-Home Robbery Task Force will have robbery homicide detectives and resources from the LAPD’s Gang Narcotics Division and Metropolitan Division.
Moore said the department has identified 133 instances believed to be follow-home robberies.
“They’ll work moving forward on identifying these individuals responsible and pursuing and bringing them before the criminal justice system,” Moore said.
“The impact this is having on the sense of community, of safety, is profound.”
Moore said that robberies in Los Angeles have decreased over a two-year period, but they’re more violent than in the past, with more suspects being armed with firearms and have “the potential for matters to escalate to something that we saw this morning,” Moore said.
