Four teenagers have been arrested after a La Quinta carjacking during which a 75-year-old woman was threatened with a semi-automatic firearm for her purse and Camaro, according to a press release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.
Sgt. David Aldrich said, during the carjacking on Tuesday, April 11, two Hispanic males approached on the 47700 block of Dune Palms Road and ordered the victim to relinquish her vehicle and purse.
When Riverside deputies reached the scene at 12:37 a.m., they found that the suspects had gotten away in the victim's black Camaro with a white Lincoln sedan following behind them.
"Fortunately, the victim was not injured during the carjacking," Aldrich said in the release.
Their escape was foiled by Palm Desert Station patrol deputies working with Riverside County Special Enforcement Bureau personnel. As Palm Desert Station patrol deputies canvassed Highway 111 in Indian Hills, they spotted both the Camaro and the Lincoln making a northbound turn onto Village Court. The suspects weren't about to give up easily when the deputies tried to pull them over in the 44600 block of Village Court.
"The Camaro failed to yield and fled westbound on Highway 111, the Lincoln rammed a Sheriff’s patrol unit, disabling both vehicles," the release said, adding that the suspects then sought the cover of a residential neighborhood.
Quickly, patrol units from Palm Desert and Thermal stations established a perimeter, then yard by yard the Riverside County Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) combed the residential area for the suspects at large.
When SEB workers discovered two suspects at 7:04 a.m. on the 74900 block of Verbena in Palm Desert, they were arrested without incident, the release said. These suspects, both teenagers, have been named as David Reyes, 18, from Palm Desert, and Daryl Urbano,18, from Coachella. The victim's Camaro was recovered in the 69100 block of Dinah Shore in Cathedral City.
According to the news release, it took further work by the Thermal Station Special Investigations Unit to nab two additional suspects, both 16-year-old Hispanic males, one from Cathedral City and the other from Thousand Palms. These arrests followed another carjacking in Palm Desert.
According to a separate report by Sgt. Josh Button, this second carjacking at approximately 6:27 p.m. on April 11 involved a Facebook Messenger ad that the 21-year-old Coachella victim had posted to sell his vehicle. Instead of potential buyers, the victim unknowingly met up with the suspects who demanded his keys and threatened him with firearms when he refused.
Button said the suspects resorted to assaulting the victim to get his keys and fled the scene of the carjacking in Palm Desert's 34000 block of Monterey Avenue, only to abandon the car in the 74000 block of Jeri Lane in Palm Desert. Though they ran off on foot, law enforcement caught them near Gerald Ford Drive and Shepard Lane, Button said. The two firearms used in the crime weren't far from where the vehicle was recovered, he said.
Unlike the woman in the first crime, the Coachella man was hurt in the carjacking, according to the release. “The victim suffered moderate injuries and was treated and released from a local hospital,” Button said.
The Thermal Station Investigations Special Investigations Unit is seeking more information from the public regarding these crimes, which can be forwarded to Investigator Glasper at the Thermal Sheriff's Station by calling 760-863-8950. Alternatively, anonymous information can be reported to Valley Crime Stoppers at 760-341-7867.