An attempted robbery on the famous Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles was captured on video which appears to show two suspects getting out of a car and one of them pulling out a gun.
In the video, one male and two female victims are seen in a parking lot when the two suspects approached them. Acting quickly, the male victim produces a handgun of his own firing several shots causing the suspects to hightail it out of there.
Police arrested and identified the two suspects as Nicholas Brown and Markeil Hayes, both of Los Angeles, and said they were both booked on attempted robbery and are currently on parole.
“Words were apparently exchanged, and the victim ultimately produces a handgun, apparently to defend himself and others in his group from the would-be robbery suspects. The victim fired his weapon towards the suspects and then all parties immediately fled the location,” the Los Angeles Police Department recounted in a press release Tuesday.
Brown sustained a gunshot to the upper left thigh while Hayes was shot in the right calf. Police are still searching for the third suspect and asking the public for help tracking him down.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is aggressively addressing a rise in violent crime in the Melrose area over the past year and is pursuing all leads involved in this and other crimes,” police added in the press release.
Across the nation, violent crimes are on the rise with homicides up 25% in L.A. Philadelphia saw the highest number of homicides this early in the year in over 10 years. This weekend alone, nearly 40 people were shot in gun-related crimes, including 3 fatalities.
