Brazen gunman threatens employees at Koreatown bakery, steals shop’s cash

Employees at a Koreatown bakery had their lives threatened when an armed robbery suspect pulled a gun on them and demanded cash from the register just before closing time earlier this week.  

The terrifying ordeal at Coin de Rue Bakery and Cafe, located in the 100 block of North Western Avenue, happened just before 11 p.m. on June 25.  

The cafe’s security cameras captured the brazen thief as he strolled into the shop dressed in dark clothing with a black ski mask over his face and a camouflage cap on his head.  

After stopping at the register, the suspect, described by police as a man in his 30s, pulled a large revolver out of a satchel he was wearing on his chest, pointed it at the three employees and demanded the cash.  

“I’m really scared,” Jay Yoo, who manages the bakery, told KTLA’s John Fenoglio. “He said, ‘Open the register. Give me all the cash.’ He was pointing [the gun] everywhere. He hit the register with the gun. He was pointing it at our employees.”  

At one point, footage of the robbery shows the man put the gun down on the counter so he could steal the small amount of cash that was in the register and put it in his satchel. Then, just as casually as he’d walked in, he put the gun away and walked out.  

The whole incident lasted less than a minute.  

“He kind of knew that was our closing time,” Yoo told KTLA. “I think he was watching before.”  

The manager says his employees immediately called 911 to report the armed robbery and explained that the suspect was armed and had threatened their lives.  

“It took like 30 or 40 minutes [for police] to show up,” Yoo explained. “They showed up, took the report and that was it.”  

Yoo expressed disappointment with the police response, saying it’s hard enough running a family business without having to worry whether the police will show up quickly when you need them.  

“I wish police would hire more people so they can come faster and help people out,” he said. “That’s all I want.”  

Currently, the Los Angeles Police Department is only staffed with 9,000 sworn officers, its lowest staffing level in two decades. Prior to the pandemic, in 2019, the department had 10,000 sworn officers.  

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has called for boosting LAPD ranks by another 500 officers, but it’s unclear when or if that will happen.  

In the meantime, the owners of the Koreatown bakery said the best way the public can support them is by patronizing their business.