‘Armed Shoplifting’ Hits Best Buy as Campers Arrive for Black Friday Wait

Updated at 11:10 p.m. Tuesday

In what police called an “armed shoplifting,” two men grabbed a pair of laptop computers from the Best Buy on Fletcher Parkway and walked out the door Tuesday night with few shoppers aware of the crime.

Police Sgt. Ted Fenn said two Hispanic men pulled a gun at a store security guard as they exited the store near Jackson Drive.

“They just walked out, very nonchalantly,” Fenn said of the incident, which lasted only a few minutes. “They told [the store guard] to get out of the way.”

Police received the call of a robbery about 6:58 p.m., he noted, calling it “more of an armed shoplifting.” Campers at the at 8401 Fletcher Parkway store were beginning to erect tents for after-Thanksgiving sales.

“A customer setting up his chair in front of the business in anticipation for a Black Friday sale was able to give descriptions of both suspects and vehicle,” Fenn said. “La Mesa police with the assistance of a San Diego police helicopter searched the area for the suspect but were unsuccessful. No one was injured during the incident.”

The robbers were spotted leaving in a red Chevy Camaro with a convertible black top, Fenn said. A car matching that description was later found abandoned at 7908 El Cajon Blvd. near Clearview Way, he said.

The latest in a series of La Mesa robberies wasn’t being linked to others, given the description of the possible suspects.

Both were in their 20s, with one being 6 feet tall, 180 pounds, wearing a black hat, black hoody sweatshirt hooded sweatshirt with a white Fox emblem and a green Monster emblem and black jeans; and the other being 5-11, 200 pounds, with a gray hooded sweatshirt with white South Pole emblem, back jeans and black and white shoes, Fenn said.

The shorter suspect was holding a black semiautomatic handgun in his left hand while holding the stolen computers in his right, he said.

Trey Bannon, a Best Buy manager, declined to give details of the robbery, other than to confirm it occurred. He referred all questions to a corporate headquarters phone number, where nobody was available.

The night before, a Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt shop on Lake Murray Boulevard was Monday’s third robbery victim—after a cell-phone robbery of a pedestrian at the 70th Street trolley station and a laptop computer take-away north of Fletcher Parkway perhaps a quarter-mile west of Best Buy.

Two suspects in the cell-phone robbery were arrested Tuesday and face arraignment Monday.

Anyone with information on this case or others is asked to call the La Mesa Police Department at 619-667-1400.

You may also call Crime Stoppers’ anonymous toll-free tip line 888-580-TIPS (or sdcrimestoppers.com). You can remain anonymous, and be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest in this case.