Security cameras from a Long Beach restaurant captured the moments of an armed robbery suspect walking away from a hours-long standoff after a SWAT team searched the area.
The standoff happened early Tuesday morning after the suspect allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven store in downtown Long Beach. SWAT officers tried to convince the suspect to surrender and searched the convenience store after 13 hours.
The Long Beach Police Department cleared the scene at 5:20 p.m. and issued a notice stating that the suspect had escaped.
However, a security camera captured the suspect walking through the Broadway Pizza and Grill, which is two doors down from the 7-Eleven.
“I went back and looked at the video footage,” owner Mike Rossetti said. “And then I realized, this is really strange because this guy was in here while I was in here.”
Rossetti said the suspect waited about an hour after the police left before walking out of the restaurant.
“It is an old building and there is a lot of hidden, weird areas to hide in,” Rossetti said.
Long Beach police said they used “tools and search tactics consistent with best practices in law enforcement, including the use of thermal imaging technology” while looking for the suspect.
“While extremely rare, no search is 100% conclusive and there are instances in which suspects have been able to evade law enforcement,” LBPD wrote in a statement.