Thieves steal cash, jewelry in swap meet chaos

Witness says robbers staged fight to distract guards in another L.A. smash-and-grab heist.

The spate of smash-andgrab robberies plaguing Los Angeles made its way to Rancho Dominguez this week, where authorities say cash, jewelry and other items were taken from the Del Amo Swap Meet.

The incident occurred around 11:30 a.m. Thursday, according to Deputy Grace Medrano of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Video provided to The Times showed several people making off with goods amid broken glass and blaring alarms.

The witness who took the video said there were several people shopping at the time of the robbery and that the thieves “faked a fight” to distract security guards before breaking the glass and grabbing the items.

“People were scared [and] running away because the glass-smashing sounded like gunshots,” said the witness, who asked to remain anonymous.

Two employees were shoved to the ground, but it was not clear whether they were injured, the witness said, adding that the robbers had multiple cars waiting outside with their engines running.

A representative for the Swap Meet did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Medrano said that two suspects were in custody and that authorities were looking for at least five more, but provided no further details or descriptions.

The incident follows a string of smash-and-grab robberies from stores across Los Angeles, including a Nordstrom at the Grove mall, a Home Depot in Lakewood and a Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills.

On Friday, four storefront windows in Burbank were smashed before dawn. Police said the incident did not appear to follow the same pattern as the other robberies, which have in many cases involved highend retail stores and occurred while the businesses were open.

Other videos of the Del Amo Swap Meet incident proliferated across social media, with one post on Reddit racking up more than 1,200 comments.

“Terrible,” one person wrote. “It’s small-scale mom n pop businesses in there.”