Four youths who allegedly pulled guns and knives on pedestrians and robbed them in Hillcrest, University Heights, North Park and La Jolla over a several-hour period early Friday were arrested following a road chase that ended in a crash in the Midway District.
The first of the spree of armed holdups occurred shortly after 12:30 a.m. at First and Pennsylvania avenues, according to San Diego police. Less than a half-hour later, a second pedestrian was robbed in the 4600 block of Georgia Street, SDPD Officer Frank Cali said.
The group of thieves proceeded to shake down another person on 32nd Street near Thorn Street about 1:45 a.m. and targeted a fourth victim roughly 20 minutes later in the area of La Jolla Boulevard and Nautilus Street, Cali said.
About 2:15 a.m., the vehicle the alleged bandits were traveling in was spotted near Belmont Park in Mission Beach. Officers caught up with it a short time later and pursued it to the south and east.
The chase ended when the fleeing suspects' car ran over a tire- flattening spike strip police had laid in its path and smashed into another vehicle on Midway Drive, near West Point Loma Boulevard. The four occupants then jumped out and made a failed attempt to escape on foot.
Arrested were Victor Ledesma, 18, and three teenage boys whose names were withheld because they are minors.
Officers found a gun believed to have been used in the holdups ditched on Sports Arena Boulevard, near where the pursuit ended, Cali said.
