Newport Police in Southern California arrest a suspect after a New Zealand woman was robbed and fatally run over. Photo / KCAL News
Newport Police in Southern California arrest a suspect after a New Zealand woman was robbed and fatally run over. Photo / KCAL News
A Kiwi woman is reportedly dead after being run down following a robbery outside a California shopping mall as the attackers fled in a hail of bullets.
US media reported that the incident happened at the Fashion Island Mall in the coastal city of Newport about 3.30pm on Tuesday (US time).
Newport Police Department said the suspects robbed a 69-year-old New Zealand woman and her husband outside the Barnes and Noble, according to CBS News.
The suspects then jumped into a white car and ran over the woman, killing her.
Police said the suspects opened fire as they drove away, leading officers on a cross-county pursuit that reached speeds of nearly 180km/h before their arrests.
”I’m furious,” Mayor Will O’Neill told local media. ”I’m horrified. I’m mourning the loss of someone who died inside of our city because of crime ... This is a tragedy and I’m furious.
“These are thugs and every community is now dealing with this,” O’Neill said. “We have to do better as a society because we cannot tolerate this.”
“This doesn’t happen in Newport Beach,” he told KCAL-9 News.
Police erect a scene tent at the spot were a New Zealand woman was robbed and fatally run down at Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, California. Photo / KCAL NEWS
The Newport Beach Fire Department said first responders found the woman dead in a parking lot just outside of the shopping center.
Witnesses described seeing a dead body and a crowd panicked by gunshots.
Images on social media show paramedics performing CPR on a person at the scene.
”When I walked up, it was just a dead body laying on the ground,” shopper Rachel West told CBS News.
”All of a sudden 20-30 people came running around the corner screaming, ‘There’s gunshots, there’s gunshots’, and you could tell by the look on their face this wasn’t a drill,” witness Case Burnett said.
Helicopter footage of the suspects' fleeing the scene at Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach California. Three men have been arrested after a Kiwi woman was fatally run. Photo / KCAL NEWS
According to cbsnews.com, witnesses said they heard three to four gunshots before people sought cover. Residents were asked to avoid the area while police carried out investigations.
”I expected to go and fix my sunglasses,” shopper Rachel West said. “I didn’t know that there was going to be a crime scene and dead body when I got here.”
A witness posted about the dramatic incident on X.
“Someone was just shot somewhere between the Starbucks and Whole Foods at Fashion Island mall here in Newport Beach, California. Three men in a Camry was trying to rob a woman. A Samaritan came to help her and they shot at him three times. They didn’t hit him.”
Sergeant Steven Oberon told the Los Angeles Times that the woman’s husband was believed to be uninjured.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the Herald: “We are aware of the reports of the death of a New Zealander in California. Consular officials are seeking further information.”
Newport Police in Southern California arrest a suspect after a New Zealand woman was robbed and fatally run over. Photo / KCAL News
Authorities started chasing the suspects shortly after the incident. The car led police into Los Angeles County after a pair of suspects jumped out near Los Alamitos, cbsnews.com reported.
After exiting a freeway, two more men jumped out of the car and started running around a nearby South Gate neighborhood.
Officers located and arrested three suspects, including one found hiding behind trash cans in South Gate.
