Two robbers held employees and three Biola students at gunpoint in the In-N-Out on Firestone Blvd at approximately 1:30 this morning, according to an email alert from Campus Safety. The suspects, two black males wearing ski masks, are still at large, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Robert Jones.
Both Jones and In-N-Out third manager Justin Ancell noted that this was an uncommon incident for the area.
“This store has been open since ‘84 or ‘83 and this is only the second time [a robbery] has happened. The first time it happened was in the ‘80s,” Ancell explained.
The suspects knocked on the locked doors after In-N-Out closed for business and were let in by one of the students, Jones said. The suspects threatened the customers and employees with handguns and told them that they wanted the money from the cash register. After discovering that the cash registers had been emptied into a time lock safe that is bolted to the floor, the suspects collected cell phones from everyone and exited through the back door.
LASD officers recovered the cell phones from the parking lot when they arrived on the scene, Jones said. No one was injured.
Students should still feel safe eating at In-N-Out, Ancell said. In-N-Out has a silent alarm button which employees press to alert authorities in the case of a robbery, Ancell said. Coming in more than a few minutes before closing increases safety since there will be more employees present who can watch activity on and around the restaurant, Ancell added.
Students should avoid sparsely populated restaurants late at night, as they can be targets for robberies, said John Ojeisekhoba, chief of Campus Safety.
"If students go out to restaurants and there is no one there, I would not stay there too late at night,” Ojeisekhoba said. "Those guys who went to In-N-Out, they didn't just go in, they cased the place."
If the situation arises, students should always comply with suspects, Jones said.
“Just go along with the program and that way you minimize risk to yourself as far as injury. You’ll be good witnesses later on,” Jones said.
