Gunmen release final hostage after failed jewelry store robbery

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. - Gunmen who held six people hostage in a botched jewelry store heist released three remaining captives unharmed Sunday after releasing three others earlier, authorities said.

Two men and one woman, and the two gunmen exited the shop about 11 a.m., Los Angeles County sheriff's Sgt. Norine Plett said.

Robert James Miller, 47, of Los Angeles, and Matthew Lou Ross, 48, from Michigan, hometown unknown, were booked for investigation of robbery. They were being held on $1 million bail each, sheriff's Sgt. Brenda Cambra said.

''The hostages were all released safely. They're in good condition. The hostage negotiators resolved it peacefully,'' said Deputy Margarita Velazquez.

Sheriff's Cmdr. Bill McSweeney, who supervised law enforcement at the scene, said the gunmen finally surrendered because of ''excellent negotiators and exhaustion.''

The nearly 17-hour ordeal began about 5:20 p.m. Saturday when the gunmen robbed the store inside the Peninsula Center strip mall.

Law enforcement officials trapped the men inside after a shop employee alerted authorities by activating a silent alarm. The gunmen then held the six people inside as hostages.

Nearly 100 deputies surrounded the store as negotiators communicated via telephone with the gunmen.

The first hostage, a woman, was released sometime after 3 a.m., nearly 10 hours after the ordeal at Morgan's Jewelers began. A second hostage, a man, was released after 6 a.m.

Another woman was released about three hours later, exiting the store with her hands raised over her head.

The six hostages were all either owners or employees of the store, McSweeney said.

The men tried to rob the store located inside the Peninsula Center shopping mall at about 5:20 p.m. Saturday, authorities said.

The robbers entered the jewelry store dressed in business suits and claimed to be police detectives inspecting the shop's security system, McSweeney said.

After employees activated a silent alarm, sheriff's deputies arriving on the scene spotted two men with briefcases and weapons exiting the store. The men returned inside when they saw the authorities.

The robbers each carried multiple handguns, but authorities did not release details of the weapons.

Shopper Bob Dunbar said deputies initially told people in the mall to duck for cover inside shops and then told them to evacuate.

''They yelled 'Get down! Get away!' It was scary,'' Dunbar said.

In the final hours of the crisis, scattered onlookers gathered around the area, some hoping to get to their jobs in mall shops, others trying to catch a glimpse of the standoff.

Although the men surrendered peacefully, deputies fearing a violent showdown with the gunmen evacuated the streets facing the mall and its parking lot, forcing the onlookers away from the scene.

Martha Hooten, assistant manager of a mall book store, said she was surprised to find deputies surrounding the parking lot when she arrived for work early Sunday.

''We've never had any problems up here,'' she said.

Rolling Hills Estates is about 30 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles.