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 Patricia Cupa and her 19-year-old daughter Natalie Martinez, the victims, started after a trip to the outlet shops to return a sweater.

In the parking lot, the mother and daughter 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.

Patricia said that she and Natalie, who was behind the wheel of their car, waited patiently for several minutes for someone to close that vehicle’s door before Natalie 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, they say five people, four females and a male, exited their vehicle with things quickly escalating to insults, obscenities, a thrown drink, racist comments and then a violent physical altercation.

“I was really upset,” Patricia said of the violence. “I couldn’t believe what was happening.”

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In footage of the incident obtained by KTLA, Natalie 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 fell to the ground.

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

“I tried fighting back, that’s all I could’ve done,” the 19-year-old said. “Your instincts kick in.”

Natalie suffered cuts, bumps and bruises along with a busted lip.

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. Witnesses said it was the male who reportedly grabbed a purse from the car before moving back around to the trunk of the vehicle.

He’s also seen moving around to the passenger side of the Volkswagen moments later and then quickly returning to where the fight was taking place.

Patricia 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.

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