Police have dubbed the crimes 'follow-home robberies' and say their frequency has skyrocketed over the past two years.
The phenomenon, which police say armed suspects follow victims from restaurants and shopping areas to rob them, was "almost unheard of'' before last year, according to police.
Video of one robbery shows a woman being chased down a street by men on foot and in a car, which eventually rammed her, sending her flying."Many of these attacks started off violently and without any provocation or opportunity by the victims to even comply willingly," said Tippet. Tippet said the crews behind the heists have been connected to at least 17 different street gangs in South L.A.
Four of the suspects already arrested have been charged with murder related to other cases and six have been charged with attempted murder. But investigators said they're frustrated because more than half of the suspects they've caught have been quickly released. At least seven have been re-arrested for the same kind of robberies."Hold them there or set the bail higher and more appropriate to the types of charges that they're being charged with, including violent attacks and using guns, because each one of these cases are armed, violent robberies," Tippet told Eyewitness News.