Los Angeles County sheriffs arrested a man Monday, Aug. 11 after he allegedly committed a crime spree in Pacific Palisades that included kidnapping an elderly woman, two home invasions, three carjackings and nearly a dozen traffic collisions.
The early morning rampage left three people injured, including the suspect, and frayed nerves in the community.
Brian Cruz, 44, of Los Angeles, was booked at a local hospital Monday afternoon, according to LAPD Public Information Officer Liliana Preciado. The charges against him were not available at press time.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
The first incident occurred at 7:45 a.m. in an apartment complex at 111 Marquez Place, where Cruz reportedly entered the apartment of a woman in her mid-80s. Police said the man threatened the elderly woman with a box cutter, demanded property and ordered her to drive him to San Fernando Valley.
According to a neighbor, the woman drove her vehicle toward Palisades High School and crashed her own car into a cement mixing truck to thwart the suspect’s demands.
“She’s traumatized,” said Lowell Cauffiel, a neighbor who spoke to the Post outside the kidnap victim’s apartment building.
Cauffiel added the woman “kept her cool.”
During a press conference at a Sunset Boulevard home that was also involved in the crime spree, Capt. Brian Thomas of the LAPD West L.A. Division said the woman “made a split-second decision” to crash her car.
Cruz fled from the crash, accosted a female Pali High teacher in one of the school parking lots and took her car, Thomas said. The school employee was reportedly not injured.
Cruz allegedly drove west on Sunset and hit multiple vehicles before ditching the teacher’s car, a silver Toyota, on Livorno Drive in Marquez Knolls.
On foot, the suspect then broke into a home in the 16800 block of Sunset. Allegedly still armed with the box cutter, Cruz confronted two women in the home and demanded their white Lexus. He drove the Lexus west on Sunset and then took PCH toward Malibu.
Thomas said the suspect was involved in a couple of minor hit and runs on PCH before ultimately crashing into another vehicle at Malibu Canyon Road.
Three people, including the suspect, were injured in the accident. Two victims were airlifted to a local hospital while the suspect was transported on the ground.
Malibu Canyon Road at PCH was closed for a period of time Monday morning as LASD conducted its investigation.
On Monday, when the rampage occurred, faculty members at Pali High were on campus preparing for the new school year, which started Tuesday, Aug. 12. Late Monday, Principal Pam McGee spoke to the Post and credited the quick actions of everyone involved.
“We had an intruder,” she said. “Someone came on campus and accosted a teacher, took her automobile and hit a couple of cars as he was leaving campus.”
Magee added, “People stayed calm and they reacted quickly. Maintaining safety was our first concern, and no students or staff members were put in harm’s way.”
In total, the violent crime spree lasted less than an hour.
Thomas noted police are not sure if Cruz is a suspect in any prior crimes or whether he was intoxicated.
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