Los Angeles police rescued a mother and her four daughters Thursday from reputed gang members who had stormed into the family’s downtown apartment, authorities said.
The officers responded shortly after midnight after receiving calls from residents about gang members with guns in front of the apartment building at 916 Georgia St., the Los Angeles Police Department said.
As officers swooped down on the area, the gang members scattered into the building, said Lt. Paul Vernon, commander of the LAPD’s Central Division detective unit. Police rounded up five men and two women who were hiding or trying to escape.
"But something didn’t feel right to the officers," Vernon said, adding that they began knocking on doors.
At one apartment, a man identified as Pablo Giron, 18, opened the door and asked whether police had a search warrant. The officers, who noticed mud on Giron’s shoes and gang tattoos on his chest, entered the apartment and found the mother and her daughters, ages 2 to 12, huddled on the bed, Vernon said.
"This little family had been terrified," Vernon said.
He said Giron and another reputed gang member hiding in the bathroom, Evasto Islas, 25, were booked on suspicion of false imprisonment and were each being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
— Robert J. Lopez