Robbers shoot man, flee with watch, chains

Two suspects at large after attacking victim outside a high-rise in L.A.’s Westlake area.

A man was in critical condition after being shot during a robbery near Koreatown, with two suspects stealing a watch and three gold chains, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

Officers responded to reports of a shooting about 4:15 p.m. Friday in the 2800 block of Sunset Place, where they found the gunshot victim, LAPD Officer Hector Guzman said. The weapon used in the shooting was a semiautomatic handgun, Guzman said.

The victim has not been identified, and the robbers remain at large, police said.

The shooting took place in L.A.’s Westlake neighborhood, outside the high-rise residential building known as Kurve on Wilshire, KABCTV Channel 7 reported. The station said the watch taken was a Rolex.

Robberies in L.A. are up 11.7% compared with the same time a year earlier, according to crime statistics covering the period through

Nov. 12. Earlier this year, an LAPD task force reported that at least 17 gangs have been targeting some of the city’s wealthiest residents, sending crews in multiple cars to find, follow and rob them of jewelry, designer handbags and other highend items.

In several of those incidents, the victims were punched, beaten or pistolwhipped, police said.

Still, such high-profile robberies have not been limited to the city of L.A.

In May, Los Angeles County sheriff ’s deputies responded to a robbery in West Hollywood where four suspects were believed to have stolen $19,000 worth of luxury watches from two people. Two months later, two suspects were captured on video pistol-whipping a man and a woman before fleeing with a $60,000 Rolex in the parking lot of a 99 Ranch Market in the San Gabriel Valley community of Rowland Heights.

A suspect in that case was arrested a month later.

Two weeks ago, a man was robbed in West Hollywood by a suspect who pointed a handgun at him and then drove over him with his car. Much of that incident was also captured on video.