Nordstrom Rack hostage situation

The investigation continued into an armed robbery at a Nordstrom Rack store where 14 employees were held hostage and two were assaulted, one of them sexually.

LAPD SWAT officers led the victims to safety early Friday, several hours after two gunmen were reported to have entered the clothing store at the Promenade at Howard Hughes Center, the Los Angeles Police Department reported.

One hostage was stabbed and another was sexually assaulted.

“Both were treated at the scene and released,” said Lt. Andy Neiman, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.

The robbery was reported just after 10 p.m. on Jan. 10 by a spouse of an employee at the store, Neiman said.

“The woman had phoned her husband asking him to tell police that two men armed with handguns had come into the store, which closes at 10 p.m.,” Neiman said.

Responding officers saw a man come out of the store and then run back inside when he saw police. A short time later, a man leaving the store with a woman spotted officers and forced the woman back into the store.

Officers became concerned there might be additional hostages, and summoned a SWAT team.

Around 3:30 a.m., the SWAT team entered the store and found 14 people in a bathroom and a storage room in the rear of the store. They included 13 women and one man.

Soon after, police released about 200 people who were stranded inside a cinema at the shopping center while the crisis played out. They had been sheltering in place with police protection.

“It was such a scary thing. We didn’t get much information as to what was happening. It was stressful. Especially when you consider how many shootings there have been recently,” said Jeff Colbert, a Culver City resident.

“As we interviewed and debriefed all of the hostages, we learned that one of the hostages was stabbed,” Neiman told Fox11.

“That hostage has been treated for a non-life-threatening wound and also, sadly, one of the other hostages was sexually assaulted. We’re not going to go into any detail on that sexual assault.”

Neiman said it was unclear at what point during the incident that the sexual assault occurred.

“It’s tragic that somebody has to go and endure that kind of trauma,” Neiman said.

A white SUV with two people inside was seen leaving the shopping center parking lot around the time the robbery was reported, but it was unclear if those inside were involved with the crime, Neiman said.

A vehicle that may have been used by the suspects to flee the shopping center was later located near Washington Boulevard and Globe Avenue in Culver City, police said.

“Some items possibly related to the store were recovered,” Neiman said.

“The investigators worked relentlessly for the next 48 hours to track down the assailants,” Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck said at a news conference on Jan. 14 at police headquarters.

“By Saturday evening, Robbery-Homicide Division was able to identify and arrest the three suspects who committed the robbery,” Beck said.

“Two additional individuals were also arrested for their actions after the robbery.”

Prosecutors have filed charges against the individuals.

Troy Marsay Hammock, 29 and Everett Oneal Allen, 24, are charged with 14 counts each of second-degree robbery and one count each of assault with a deadly weapon.

Rochelle Monique Sherman, 33 and Paula Roneshia Bradley, 29, are charged with one count each of being an accessory after the fact.

A fifth defendant, Raymond Sherman Jr., 34, is charged with two counts of forcible rape, one count each of oral copulation, kidnapping for rape and assault with a deadly weapon and 14 counts of second-degree robbery. He is awaiting extradition from Arizona, where he was arrested.