Daniel Berilla, a West Hollywood resident, and his friends were on their way home early Monday morning after spending time at the Rainbow District when they were suddenly accosted by three men.
“At that moment, I was like, “OK. I’m about to be jumped right now,” Berilla recalled.
He said one of the men demanded Berilla’s bag, then ripping it off from his hands and leaving cut marks on his arm.
At least one of the robbers had a gun during the altercation near the intersection of Cynthia and Larabee in front of the Petit Ermitage hotel a block from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station.
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As the robbers were distracted while trying to steal his phone, Berilla said he ran away as fast as he could to seek help.
The latest assault and robbery happened in the same area where a similar, high-profile crime happened nearly a year ago. Three men had also been ambushed at gunpoint.
After the incident in April 2023, the city of West Hollywood had promised to step up patrols of its unarmed safety ambassadors.
But Berilla said he has never seen or felt that presence.
“I personally have never seen them walk up the streets up to where the actual crime is happening, like up Larabee, up Palm. I don't see them walking up and down,” he said.
In response, the city of West Hollywood said in a statement the crime generally went down after the city’s safety ambassador program began in 2022.
But from January through April of this year, the NBC4 I-team has learned there were 33 reported robberies in West Hollywood, two more than the same period last year. Weapons were used in more than half of the incidents.
“I feel scared. I feel paranoid,” Berilla said. “ I feel cheated by all the money that I pay in rents and taxes in the city. I feel like it's not going to the things that are going to keep people like me alive.”
