Police said today that the two juveniles, ages 15 and 16, arrested in connection with the Echo Park-Silver Lake robberies were from East Hollywood and may have been responsible for robberies in the Rampart area as well.
The pair, identified by police as known gang members, were linked to two street robberies in Silver Lake, officials said this afternoon at a news conference at the Northeast Division police station. Guns, knives and several mobile phones and Ipod music players were recovered from a police search of a home.
Police are still trying to determine if two adult males who were also arrested this weekend on weapons charges as part of the investigation were indeed involved in the robberies.
Two separate gangs are believed to be responsible for the street robberies of 10 men in Echo Park and Silver Lake since last December. The victims, who ranged from high school age to men in their 40s, were walking on their own. Police said the suspects have not targeted gay men, as many residents believe. The victims include African Americans, Latinos and Whites, police said.
So far, none of the suspects who have been apprehended have been connected to six of the attacks that took place in Echo Park, near the intersection of Alvarado and Sunset. That does not mean, as Councilman Eric Garcetti said today, that “we have prioritized one community over another.”
Police said they continue to look for other suspects.
Listen to the press conference.
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