Parking dispute at Southern California mall turns into violent brawl, robbery

COMMERCE, Calif. (KTLA) - A parking dispute at the popular Citadel Outlets in Commerce turned into a violent, all-out brawl and robbery Wednesday that was caught on a cellphone camera.  

Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of the fight in the parking lot along 100 Citadel Drive just after 5 p.m., authorities confirmed to KTLA.  

The encounter, according to the mother and daughter who said they were victims of the violence, started after a trip to the outlet shops to return a sweater.  

In the parking lot, the pair said they drove around for an extended period of time looking for a place to park. Once they finally found an open spot, a portion of it was blocked by the open door of another vehicle.  

The mother said that she and her daughter, who was behind the wheel of their car, waited patiently for several minutes for someone to close that vehicle’s door before her daughter finally honked the horn and asked one of the vehicle’s occupants if they could close the door.  

When they eventually pulled into the spot and got out of the car, several of the other vehicle’s occupants exited their vehicle and a fight ensued.  

In footage of the incident obtained by KTLA, the daughter is seen being pummeled by at least two people as a third person grabs her by the feet and pulls her out from between the two vehicles where she falls to the ground.

Once she gets back on her feet, the violence continues as she and another female exchange several more blows.  

During the melee, a person from the other vehicle can be seen on video opening the driver’s side door of the victim’s Volkswagen SUV. It is unclear if that suspect was a male or female, but they reportedly grabbed a purse from the car before moving back around to the trunk of the vehicle.  

That person is also seen moving around to the passenger side of the Volkswagen moments later and then quickly returning to where the fight was taking place.  

The mother told KTLA that her purse not only contained her driver’s license and credit cards, but also $3,000 in cash, money she was going to use to pay rent, bills and buy some Christmas presents.  

It is unclear if the people accused in the attack were still there when deputies arrived, but investigators were able to get a license plate number off video provided by Citadel Outlets security personnel.  

It does not appear that any arrests have been made, though the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department said the matter is under investigation.  

KTLA's Chris Wolfe contributed to this report from Commerce.