Los Angeles follow-home robberies prompt community alert from police

The Los Angeles Police Department is urging LA residents to be on high alert as follow-home robberies in the city continue to rise. 

In a community alert, the LAPD warned there is an ongoing trend of follow-home robberies, whereby assailants follow victims home from places like Melrose Avenue, the Jewelry District of Los Angeles, nightclubs, and high-end restaurants. 

The target of these robberies, the LAPD said, has been expensive jewelry, watches, necklaces, and pursues. Vehicles have also been targeted based on the type of vehicle they’re driving. 

In a tweet issuing the community alert, the LAPD included a list of recommendations for LA residents to avoid being targeted. These included being cautious of displaying high-value property and leaving the job of catching the suspects to the police. 

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The community alert came after Olympian Kim Glass was attacked earlier this month in broad daylight in downtown Los Angeles, allegedly by 51-year-old Semeon Tesfamariam, a repeat offender out on parole despite felony charges in 2018 and 2019.  

Irene Lee, a former deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, who was attacked by the same suspect in 2020, warned in a recent Fox News interview that the “writing was on the wall” since the suspect is a repeat offender. 

“When I was attacked, he was already on three grants of felony probation,” Lee said on “America’s Newsroom” Monday. “He had attacked three women, two of them with a golf club and a hammer, and he threatened to harm them. And another incident that was about a year prior to my attack where he had gone after a young woman with a metal pipe and struck her numerous times causing injuries.”

Fox News’ Lawrence Richard and Madeline Coggins contributed to this report.