The first 911 call came at 11:08 p.m. A panicked man told an operator the barest of details: Nordstrom Rack in Westchester. Two armed men. Robbery.
Police rushed to the sprawling Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, where a hostage drama was unfolding at the popular shopping center off the 405 Freeway.
During the four-hour siege, at least two robbers held 14 Nordstrom Rack employees hostage, forcing some to strip. Police said they savagely attacked three of the captives.
Hundreds of other people were stranded, most of them at a movie complex, while SWAT officers surrounded the mall.
The overnight events early Friday were marked by confusion. Relatives and even some of those stranded in the shopping mall relied on Twitter for scraps of information.
The families of the Nordstrom employees — 13 women and one man — learned they were safe only hours later.
"My sister finally called ... and asked if we could go get her at the mall," said the brother of a 19-year-old hostage who gave only his first name, Irwun. "She was scared. She didn't want to talk about it. She was terrified."
The LAPD called a citywide tactical alert for several hours as officials streamed officers into the area from across the city.
Detectives spent much of Friday sorting out what had happened at the Nordstrom Rack, which is near a Rubio's, a GameStop and a Rave Cinemas at the mall on Center Drive.
Police continued to search for suspects. Law enforcement sources said they were following several promising leads.
The gunmen apparently stormed inside about 10 p.m. Thursday, as the store was closing.
Two employees hid in the store bathroom, authorities said. The gunmen herded the rest into a rear restroom on the third level, according to dispatch audio posted on the Venice 311 server. There, at least two employees were told to strip.
One woman was dragged to a separate room, where she was sexually assaulted, police said. A second woman was stabbed in the neck, police said, and a third hostage was pistol-whipped.
After officers arrived, a vehicle with tinted windows and its headlights off peeled out of the parking garage. The driver wore a black hoodie and the passenger a white T-shirt, according to dispatch recordings.
"White SUV! White SUV! White Ford Explorer!" an officer barked. "High rate of speed leaving the parking lot!"
"Go pursue that vehicle!" another officer said.
They did, to no avail.
"We lost sight of that vehicle," an officer said over the radio. "We're going on the 405 north. I need other units to try Sepulveda. We don't know where vehicle is now."
The gunmen had escaped — though officers didn't know it at the time. They called in a SWAT team, which arrived about 1 a.m. The mall remained on lockdown — stranding at least 200 moviegoers at the cineplex.
Simeon Campbell, 26, and two of his friends had gone to the 10 p.m. showing of "A Haunted House."
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