California Men Arrested After Attempting to Rob Card Room Player

Posted on: January 20, 2024, 08:32h. 

Last updated on: January 20, 2024, 08:32h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More

Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

Four suspects were charged after a Thursday night failed holdup of a man on his driveway. He had just arrived at his Southern California home from an evening spent at a popular card room.

Two of suspects apparently tailed the man back from the Commerce Casino located in Commerce, Calif.

Once there, the masked bandits pulled out what later were found to be replica handguns and demanded cash from the Irvine resident.

The man’s 11-year-old son heard a commotion outside and went out to assist his father. Upon seeing the boy, the two robbers fled the area.

The victim had been followed some 32 miles from the gaming property to his home at about 10 p.m.

The victim resides in a gated community located in the Northwood neighborhood in Irvine. Visitors must go through a security gate to gain entry to the complex. But it appears the would-be robbers drove their vehicle close to the victim’s, so the gate remained elevated allowing them access to the lot, according to Los Angeles TV station KNBC.

Victim Pleads for Life

When the victim reached his driveway, he exited his vehicle.

The two suspects approached him and demanded cash.

Sorry, sorry. Don’t kill me, my family right here,” the victim told the bandits.

Just 30 seconds later, the 11-year-old opened the door and left his house.

I was proud that he was so brave,” the boy’s mother told KNBC. “He was the one who scared them, but it could have been very different if they were different criminals.”

It’s unknown if the victim had won a jackpot while at the card room. Police also didn’t reveal why the suspects selected that man to follow home and then try to rob him.

Sparse Details on Suspects

Each of the four suspects resides in Los Angeles County. Police didn’t immediately reveal their names and ages. Their charges are unknown as well.

Neither the boy nor his father were injured during the incident.

The victim’s mother, relieved both her son and husband survived the ordeal, questioned if her husband could have done something differently on Thursday night.

Part of me that’s mad at my husband for not looking at his rear-view mirror, but who does that with the gates,” she told KNBC. “They’ve closed on my husband’s car before. He hasn’t been able to get in, so why would he think someone else should be able to?”

Police didn’t identify the victim, his wife, or the couple’s son.