A group of armed suspects remains at large after a violent robbery at a Torrance shopping mall left a man beaten and bloodied.
The victim, Absalom Wilkins, was leaving the Del Amo Fashion Center with Christmas gifts on Dec. 23 when two suspects approached him at gunpoint.
“I was fearing for my life,” said Wilkins. “Especially when you’re getting up and they’re saying they’re going to shoot you. It was sad, traumatizing, scary. I couldn’t stop crying. When my family saw me, they couldn’t stop crying.”
Wilkins left the mall at around 9 p.m. when the suspects’ SUV nearly crashed into him as he was using a crosswalk near Buffalo Wild Wings.
“This gentleman in the SUV blew past the stop sign and was not paying attention at all, “ Wilkins said.
He knocked on the suspects’ car with his knuckles, telling the driver to pay attention. That’s when the driver stepped out of the vehicle to confront Wilkins.
“He said a couple of words to me like, ‘F*** you,’ and ‘I don’t give a f***,’” Wilkins said.
Suddenly, friends of the SUV driver pulled up in a BMW sedan. That second car had a man and a woman inside. The men from both vehicles cornered Wilkins and began beating him.
As he was lying on the ground, “all I can feel are kicks and punches,” Wilkins said.
Every time he tried to get up, Wilkins said they would threaten him with a gun.
“He has a gun pointed at me and he said, ‘Stay down or we’re going to shoot you!’” he recalled.
Nearby witnesses called the police during the attack. As officers arrived at the scene, the two male suspects grabbed the victim’s shopping bags and took off in the SUV, while the female suspect began to drive off in the sedan.
In the heat of the moment, Wilkins decided to jump into the sedan with the woman.
“I hopped in her passenger seat because I wanted my gifts back,” he said. “I just spent thousands of dollars on Christmas shopping.”
During the ride, Wilkins said the woman lost control of the vehicle as she was fleeing police and ended up crashing into the mall‘s parking structure.
“Her car jumped this curb and just headed down there,” Wilkins said as he pointed to a parking lot situated several floors beneath ground level.
The woman began running on foot and Wilkins chased after her before stopping as he realized she had left the stolen shopping bags behind in the car.
Although the suspects remain at large, Wilkins said police have a good idea who the thieves are as they continue investigating.
“I hope they catch these guys and they stay in jail for a long time,” he said.
Loved ones said the ordeal left Wilkins with multiple injuries and a concussion from the crash. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Wilkins with medical expenses.