BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – An attempted robbery at a Beverly Hills restaurant resulted in an innocent by-stander being shot during a scuffle between the robbers and their intended victim. The Beverly Hills Police Department received a 911 call around 2:10 p.m., reporting a robbery with shots fired at Il Pastaio, an Italian eatery located on the 400 block of North Canon Drive.
According to Beverly Hills Police Captain Max Subin said that a “very high-end watch” was taken from one of the diners during the robbery. Witnesses told police that three assailants entered the restaurant. One grabbed a man from behind the neck, while another made a move for the victim’s watch. According to witnesses, they said that the watch stolen appeared to be a Richard Mille timepiece, with an estimated value of $400,000.
Witnesses also said that the robbery victim and three people with him put up a fight, with the victim gaining control of the suspects gun, which he fired at the robbers.
Police confirmed that a female diner, accompanied by two others, was shot. After the shooting, the three suspects fled the restaurant on foot. Drew Hancock said that it was his girlfriend who was shot in the back of her calf by a ricocheting bullet. It was not clear who may have fired the bullet that struck the woman.
Officers were on-scene within 90 seconds and tended to the woman’s wound until paramedics arrived and transported her to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. A second woman suffered a physical injury during the incident and was treated at the scene, according to police,
Celestino Drago, the owner of the restaurant, said, “I feel good nobody got injured and nobody got killed because all the other stuff can be fixed. I feel bad for the customers, for the city, for the police department, for everybody. You don’t expect stuff like this to happen.”
The restaurant was closed for the remainder of the day, and the investigation is ongoing.
