A nurse is shaken after he was held up at gunpoint in a brazen midday robbery in Sherman Oaks Monday.
The victim, who wishes to only be identified by his first name, Pavlo, said his Rolex was taken from him after a minor traffic accident near Van Nuys Boulevard and Huston Street.
Pavlo said he was driving down Van Nuys Boulevard with his arm hanging out the window when he was rear-ended at a stop light.
“My arm was [hanging out the] open window on the carl, so [the] Rolex was visible,” he said.
After he pulled onto Huston Street to exchange information with the driver of the car that hit his vehicle, a white Mercedes, Pavlo instead was confronted by three men demanding his watch, two of whom were armed with guns.
“I’m a big guy, 6’5”, who can stand up for myself, but when you hold at gunpoint, you feel terrible, you understand that if you’re going to stand up and move, you’re going to get a bullet and your life will probably be gone,” Pavlo said.
After the robbery, Pavlo went to a nearby auto dealer, Anytime Auto Group, which provided security camera footage of the incident.
Anytime owner Vitaly Tsymbalov said the suspects were gone by the time Pavlo entered the shop.
“It’s pretty unbelievable this kind of stuff happens in this neighborhood during the day,” Tsymbalov said.
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident, though they would not release details of what they’ve found so far, other than to say that the robbers are still on the loose.
In the meantime, Pavlo encourages other SoCal residents to remain aware of their surroundings so they’re not the next victim of an armed robbery.
“This incident just happened to me and it could happen to anyone. That’s why I want to share my experience. Everyone, be careful,” Pavlo said.