(May 9, 2006, updated 5:20 p.m. with some victim information, details still sketchy) -- LBReport.com has learned of a terrifying crime apparently committed over a period spanning roughly two hours in broad daylight involving fashionable parts of downtown LB and Bluff Park areas and perhaps beyond.

LBPD Public Information Officer Juan Gomez relates mind-boggling events, as we interpret them almost an Alfred Hitchcock style scenario, in which a horrifying situation befell the victim while unsuspecting people all around went about their daily routines.

Sometime at roughly midafternoon May 8, perhaps roughly 3:30 p.m. (details sketchy), a man in his 70s driving in the area of Bixby Park (roughly area Cherry Ave. at Ocean Blvd.) was carjacked at gunpoint.

A man armed with a handgun forced himself into the victim's car and ordered the victim at gunpoint to drive to multiple ATM machines (more than two, details sketchy). There the suspect used the victim's ATM card to withdraw money, sometimes forcing the victim to do so personally, other times with the suspect using the victim's ATM card.

The armed suspect then forced the victim to drive to the victim's residence in the 700 block of E. Ocean Blvd...where the armed suspect took items from the victim's residence.

After getting into the car once more, the armed suspect eventually exited the car in the downtown area [details sketchy] and walked off. [!]

The suspect is described as a white male, 28-30 years of age.

The victim's ordeal may have lasted roughly [time approximate] two hours.

Again, details are sketchy as we post. Further as we learn it.

If you saw anything suspicious in these areas or have information possibly related to this crime, LBPD asks that you call (562) 435-6711 and let them know.

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