LOCAL : Shuttle Driver Robbed, Beaten
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NEWPORT BEACH — A 69-year-old owner-operator of an airport shuttle service was robbed and beaten by three unidentified armed bandits late last night as he was completing his shift, police said today.
The victim, identified only as a Tustin resident, was struck in the face and lost several hundred dollars in cash during the robbery, Newport Beach police Sgt. Andy Gonis said.
Gonis said that the victim, who owns the single-van Amtrans Shuttle Service, had earlier picked up two fares at the Los Angeles International Airport, dropping one off at the Disneyland Hotel and the other at a Newport Beach apartment.
As he was pulling the van out of the apartment complex at Mallorca Drive and La Salud, three men armed with handguns jumped out of a late-model white compact car, climbed into his van and began serching his pockets.
After finding cash, one of them tried to steal the van keys, Gonis said. When the driver told the suspect to leave the keys, he was pistol-whipped in the face, Gonis said.
The three then jumped back into the car and fled.
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