Police were asking for the public's help with tracking down gunmen who robbed a mail carrier at gunpoint in North Hollywood.
The robbers took only the carrier's mail keys. A few hours later, an apartment building was burglarized and its mailboxes were looted. Although the complex's residents feel it’s connected, the U.S. Postal Service has not linked the crimes.
Footage from a surveillance camera captured the terrifying moments outside of Jack’s Auto Body Shop in North Hollywood when a person armed with a gun approaches the mail carrier.
“Our manager sees a car pull up and block our driveway,” said Marc Dupre, an employee at the shop.
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Dupre’s manager was at the shop when the incident happened on Tuesday around 10 a.m.
“He can see one of them jump out of the vehicle with a hoodie on follow the mailman into the office and he believes he can see a gun,” Dupre said
Surveillance footage shows the gunman demanding the mailman hand over his keys.
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“The mailman is fumbling around for his keys,” Dupre said. “In the video you can hear him say they are jammed having trouble getting them off his belt”.
Dupre said the mailman finally gives the gunman his keys and the robber take off.
About 11 hours later, an apartment building in Studio City was burglarized twice.
Surveillance footage shows a man enter the building just before 10 p.m. and ransack the mailbox. Then a few hours later at 2:55 a.m. the man comes back with a friend to steal more mail.
“The brash, brazen audacity of these guys is ridiculous,” said Tim Brehmer, a Studio City resident.
"It’s pretty easy to put that together and see that these people robbed somebody at gunpoint and took their keys and has access to our building and every other building in the neighborhood,” said another resident, Skylar Adams.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has not commented on a master key, and say it is looking into whether the robbery in North Hollywood is related to the burglary in Studio City.
A $50,000 reward was being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction. Robbing a mail carrier is a federal crime.
Those who live in the building that was burglarized say they want answers about whether a master key was taken, and if other buildings may be vulnerable.
“It doesn’t make me feel safe,” Adams said. “It makes me feel uneasy, where I’m supposed to come home and feel safe and know that anyone can walk in."
