Los Angeles police detain group defending store on live television, while would-be burglars flee

• In a surreal scene, Los Angeles police detained a group of innocent people while a local reporter screamed that they were letting the would-be burglars get away.
• Police were responding to a confrontation between two groups: men who appeared to be trying to burglarize a nearby gold store, and others — some armed — who were trying to scare them off.

In what a local newscaster termed "one of the most surreal moments" in an increasingly surreal time, Los Angeles police were seen on live television briefly detaining a group of people that had been attempting to deter what was described as would-be robbers, including the woman who had flagged them down.

Reporting from the streets of Van Nuys, a reporter for Fox 11 Los Angeles captured a tense scene: one group of people approaching a store, while another group — including armed men — sought to scare them off.

When police finally responded to the scene, it was the latter group that the reporter identified as the business owners that were immediately detained — two of whom are black. The apparent burglars were pursued on foot, while Fox's correspondent screamed that cops were arresting the wrong people.

—FOX 11 Los Angeles (@FOXLA) June 2, 2020

Insider reached out to LAPD for comment and will update as necessary.

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