Police arrest three women, female teen as suspects in Torrance robbery

This is kind of old, but I learned about it this week.

Back on March 31, a couple was walking in the parking lot near Souplantation at Hawthorne and Torrance Boulevards in Torrance when three females in dark clothing approached them.

One asked the couple for directions. As they talked, the women splashed the victims with pepper spray and pushed them down. One grabbed the woman's purse and they took off in a car

Torrance police Officer Dave Crespin said officers quickly found the women at Crenshaw and Del Amo boulevards and pulled them over. Arrested were Rebecca Duncan, 19; Shaquita Newsom, 19; and a 16-year-old all of Compton; and Shoshaun Porter, 20, of Adelanto.

Sheriff's deputies in Carson are looking into whether a similar crime the same day outside a Target store at the  South Bay Pavilion was committed by the same group, sheriff's Sgt. Barry Shapiro said.

Earlier today, police in Westminster held a news conference to announce a $5,000 reward for information to help them find a female robber who pepper sprayed a victim in an attempted purse snatching in that Orange County city in February.

The victim, Kun Min Kim, 50, died four days later from a stroke believed related to the assault. That robbery case is now a homicide.

I asked police in both departments whether the Torrance suspects could be involved in the Westminster case. Detectives said the crimes were not related.