Fashion
One person dead at Fashion Island mall in Newport Beach
One person was found dead after authorities responded to reports of shots fired at the Fashion Island shopping mall in Newport Beach. Authorities later determined the victim had been struck and killed by a getaway car in an attempted robbery.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found the woman in the parking lot area of the Barnes & Noble’s bookstore inside the mall. She died at the scene.
A woman at the Barnes & Noble bookstore inside the mall said she and others were locked inside as a crime scene is set up outside. A shopper also told NBCLA that as she was parking her car on her way to a Starbucks at the mall, she was stopped by another shopper.
“I was just parking my car. And this gal came up to me and said she heard shots, and she said to leave the area,” the woman said.
She added her friend, whom she was planning to meet at the coffee shop, witnessed an attempted robbery with three men trying to rob a woman. But when a Good Samaritan intervened, the three attempted robbers took off in a possible yellow Camry.
As they were getting away, they ran over the woman, the woman told NBCLA. Police said shots were fired during the robbery attempt, but no one was hit by gunfire.
Three suspects in the robbery were later arrested after a pursuit in Los Angeles and Orange counties.