Police Apprehend Suspect Who Fled Manhattan Beach Hill Section Dragnet
Jun 26, 2025 07:23PM ● By Dave Fratello
Manhattan Beach Police blocked off streets and used a drone to help track a suspect in the Hill Section on Thursday evening.
Manhattan Beach police on Thursday evening captured a robbery suspect first spotted in a Hill Section backyard, who initially escaped police efforts to surround and track him.
According to Manhattan Beach Police, at 5:44 p.m. on June 26, officers were dispatched to the beach Vons for an assault with a deadly weapon call for service. Employees witnessed the suspect conceal alcohol and an energy drink, and then attempt to walk out without paying. When employees confronted the suspect, he threatened an employee with a knife and pushed another employee who was attempting to record the incident. The suspect ran out of the store and into the neighborhood.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., police issued a notice to the public that they were conducting activity in the area of 6th Street and Pacific Avenue, in a prime neighborhood of the Hill Section.
Neighbors told MB News that the location of the original call to police was closer to 8th Street, where a homeowner had noticed someone in their backyard. The suspect appeared to have hopped a fence upon being seen.
Police blocked neighboring streets and were using a drone in an apparent effort to spot the individual reported by the resident.
Around 6:30 p.m., neighbors saw police officers begin running, and squad cars began giving chase, with sirens blaring. Soon, the police cars were crossing Sepulveda Blvd. at 6th and 8th Streets.
At that time, this writer witnessed a person dressed mostly in black, with a baggy jacket and white shirt, running slowly out of the parking lot of a low-slung office building on the east side of 6th and Sepulveda toward a paint store parking lot at the corner of 8th.
As many as a dozen police cars swept in from all directions, appearing to attempt to set up a perimeter near the paint store and El Pollo Loco across 8th Street. Some went down 8th on the east side and some down 9th, while others shut down northbound traffic briefly on Sepulveda.
Another person joined this writer as we watched events unfold from an office balcony. We heard loud yelling that seemed to come from the front of the hotel closer to 9th Street, and the person at our office stated that they saw someone running.
That's when this writer saw the apparently fleeing suspect – the same person seen moments earlier at 6th and Sepulveda running toward the paint store – back on the west side of Sepulveda, where he jumped into a disused parking lot surrounded by black fabric over chain link fencing on 8th Street. We called 911.
While on the line with 911, we saw the suspect hop the northern edge of the fence into the Starbucks parking lot, then run west along an open space toward a home under construction. We were able to provide a live narrative to the dispatcher, and watched police cars zoom in to concentrate on the location.
In less than a minute, it appeared that the suspect was apprehended across 9th Street in the parking lot of another low-slung commercial building. Very soon after, officers walked him to a squad car and sped off. The suspect was taken into custody and charged with multiple crimes, including robbery.
