Police in Palo Alto are searching for robbery suspects who held up a couple at gunpoint at Stanford Shopping Center on Wednesday afternoon and then rammed their way through traffic to escape.
About 2 p.m., a man and woman had just returned to their car when two cars -- a white Dodge Challenger with a black hood and a white Audi sedan -- pulled up and blocked them in, police said.
Two male suspects got out of the Audi and approached the woman sitting in the passenger seat. One suspect pointed a gun at her while the other reached in to take her purse, and then the armed suspect ripped the watch off her wrist, according to Palo Alto police.
At the same time, three suspects got out of the Challenger and approached the driver as he was getting out to help the woman. During a struggle, one of the suspects punched the victim in the head and ripped a necklace from his neck, police said.
The robbers demanded his watch and tried to take it but he resisted, and they returned to their car without the watch, police said. The man had minor injuries to his wrist and head but declined medical attention.
After the robbery, the two cars drove out of the parking lot, headed east on Sand Hill Road when they got stuck in traffic just east of Arboretum Drive. The driver of the Challenger tried honking to get traffic to move, but when that failed he intentionally hit the back of a black 1993 Toyota T100 pickup, ramming the truck out of his way and creating room for both the Challenger and Audi to continue to flee in an eastbound direction, police said.
The driver of the pickup was not injured, and his truck had minor damage.
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Detailed descriptions of the suspects were not available, but police released a photo from parking lot surveillance footage of the distinctive white Challenger with a black hood.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the police dispatch center at (650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.
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