Shootout on Burbank Street Over Attempted Car-Jacking Sends One Man to Hospital

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Police collect a bullet casing on Brighton St., after an attempted carjacking resulted in a shootout. Photo By: Edward Tovmassian

Just before 6:30 pm on Monday, February 15 police began to receive numerous calls of multiple gunshots in the 2500 block of Brighton Street. As police responded, it was then determined that the shots were over an attempted car-jacking of a Toyota.

Photo By: Edward Tovmassian

Shortly after police arrived on the scene and began their investigation, they received a call of an 18-year-old male with a gunshot wound to the lower back on top of the East Garage of the Burbank Town Center near Macy’s. The police helicopter was overhead quickly and saw four males around a truck.

Once on scene police found a man who had been shot and summoned paramedics to respond. The suspect was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. There was only one other juvenile male on the scene.

According to a press release from the Burbank Police Department, “As officers investigated the incident, they learned the female victim had been approached by two suspects, one brandishing a firearm, as they ordered the victim out of her vehicle. A neighbor in the area observed the incident and intervened. An exchange of gunfire between a suspect and neighbor occurred. The suspects then fled the scene in a vehicle. Neither the victim nor the neighbor was harmed.”

Reportedly stolen pick-up truck parked in the Burbank Town Center (Photo By Edward Tovmassian)

According to a witness, who asked to remain anonymous,  “They tried to carjack her. The gentlemen across the way from here came running out because it’s his friend, trying to scare them off. The gentlemen across the street came running out as well as she was screaming ‘Call 911’. The gentlemen across the street crossed on the opposite side of Brighton, pulled out a gun, and fired some shots at the gentlemen trying to carjack. I believe they returned fire, there was a Glock right here found on the ground with probably a 20 or 30 round magazine.

“I believe the suspects returned fire, at least two shots, I don’t know, I heard five-seven shots. I couldn’t tell you if it was six or seven but it was more than five”, said the witness.

Another witness who lives on Brighton was a bit shaken from the experience, “We just heard a lot of screaming, then the shooting started. My husband looked out, and he shut the door, and he says ‘hit the floor’, and so I hit the floor. I said ‘what’s going on, what’s going on!’ He goes ‘I’m not sure’. When we finally came out, there was a bunch of trucks screeching, cars screeching and two different guns were being shot.”

“She (the victim) was screaming, she was screaming, and from what I heard someone came out shooting, to help her get away. It’s pretty intense. When we came out, the car was still running, and everybody’s calling the police.”

Police search a storm drain/manhole at Cypress and San Fernando following an attempted carjacking and shootout on Brighton St. Photo By Edward Tovmassian

As police investigated the scene at the parking structure, they found a loaded magazine for a gun in the bottom level of the structure. They searched the area looking for more evidence after security guards from the Town Center told police they had video of two males coming down the stairs and leaving the parking structure.

The adult, an 18-year-old from Sylmar, who Police did not identify is a person of interest in this investigation while the juvenile was detained and booked for 215(a) PC- Carjacking and was transported to a juvenile detention facility. Police are still looking for the other two men involved and want anyone with any information to call them at 818 238-3210.

Police look for a bullet hole in a flattened tire taken from a white sedan on Brighton St. Photo By Edward Tovmassian

A vehicle belonging to the witness’s husband did not get away unscathed, “This car is my husband’s, and it’s been sitting here since six and earlier the cops asked us if we knew we had a flat tire, and I said no we just got back. It has a bullet in it from what they’re saying.”

“This never happens in Burbank. It’s very seldom. I’ve been here 16 years and nothing like this has happened. I know there have been other things that have happened, but for the most part, it’s pretty peaceful, and it’s not violent,” said the neighbor.

 

 

Editor’s Note: Edward Tovmassian assisted with this story

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    8 COMMENTS

    1. Everything I’ve ever heard about gun ownership in california says the neighbor will be charged with a felony, It would be great to get a follow up on if thats the case here.

      • The neighbor will not be charged and no jury in California would convict.

        But consider that in any other developed country stupid juveniles are unable to get guns. What would’ve happened had the juveniles had no guns? Probably no carjacking.

        Now consider what would’ve happened had the neighbor been unarmed. Probably the car stolen, cops catch them or insurance pays.

        It is just as likely that this situation could’ve have ended up with a dead suspect (over a stupid car) or a dead neighbor (guns aren’t magic) or a dead victim (tragic). It’s pure dumb luck nobody died.

        Guns introduce lethality into every conflict.

    2. Yep….but guns can also stop a potentially lethal assault. Do think people are only maimed and killed by firearms? Do you think if all firearms magically disappeared, that those who prey on others would stop causing great bodily injury or death? Naive utopian thinking. Right now, the reality is guns are never going to be completely removed from society and as long as those who don’t value your life have them, they’re still you’re best and most reliable defense. This is especially true at this time with our newly elected DA refusing to prosecute or incarcerate juveniles like the one’s who committed this crime. He’s the bigger, more immediate threat on numerous levels. No consequences makes laws meaningless and allows crime to flourish.

      • EXACTLY! This is the REAL problem, not the guns. There was plenty of death and destruction long before guns arrived on the scene. The problem is when the people who’s job it is to keep the community safe completely looks the other way when it comes to prosecuting the REAL problematic groups. You want to blame guns? How about blaming the CRIMINALS for once? How about blaming a section of society (that crosses various socioeconomic borders) that ENABLES criminal mindset and behavior? Nooooo…let’s blame an inanimate object for the actions of these people.

      • “Do you think if all firearms magically disappeared, that those who prey on others would stop causing great bodily injury or death?”

        No. But no one would argue that criminals should be able to buy backpack nukes either. The question is where do we draw the line. Right now automatic weapons are illegal exactly because they can cause GREATER bodily injury or death. There were over 850 casualties at the Las Vegas shooting. A single man killed or injured 850 people using legal (at the time) firearms. Any reasonable person would consider this insane. Weapons of war have no other purpose than the efficient killing of scores of humans – they are not meant for self-defense or hunting. As for handguns like the ones used in this crime – the less available, the harder it becomes to commit a crime. Period.

        “No consequences makes laws meaningless and allows crime to flourish.”

        See Tinhorn Flats.

    3. All the other developed societies in the world have less violent crime than the US. Our love affair with guns is a weird cultural anomaly. And it literally makes us less free. We are closer to Afghanistan than England culturally. The second amendment was created for two things 1) To prevent a standing army (whoops!) 2) To put down slave revolts/capture runaway slaves. I’ve lived 50 years in this country and I’ve never encountered a situation where a gun wouldn’t have made things worse. If you have some fantasy about how a gun can protect you from a tyrannical government you should read about the Warsaw uprising. If you have some fantasy about how a gun can help protect your family in a civil war or societal collapse, you should think about how a gun is going to keep the local grocery store open and stocked with milk. Nuclear and chemical weapons are also inanimate objects that can’t kill people by themselves. I don’t see anyone arguing backpack nukes should be available from a store on Magnolia. We all agree there should be a limit on certain types of weapons, we just disagree where to draw the line. This fact demonstrates the utter silliness of the “guns don’t kill people” argument.

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