Police Search Hotel for Gunmen

By Constance Tillotson

July 9 -- Police were combing the 350 rooms of the Four Points Sheraton Friday afternoon looking for two gunmen believed to possibly be hiding on the upper floors of the hotel across from Santa Monica High School, police said.

Police cordoned off Pico Boulevard between 4th Street.and Lincoln Boulevard, and guests inside the hotel were asked to either leave or stay locked in their rooms while police searched for the two gunmen identified as a black and a Hispanic male, said Police Chief James T. Butts Jr.

Some of guests who chose to leave or were outside the hotel at 530 Pico Boulevard when the incident began at about 10 a.m. were staying at the Civic Center, where the Red Cross was providing food and beverages, Butts said.

Police believe the gunmen may have fled the hotel but pressed on with the search.

"We're still conducting the search," Butts said shortly after 2:30 p.m. "The gunmen probably already fled, but it is our responsibility to check the entire hotel."

The incident began when the two gunmen approached a housekeeper, the police chief said.

"They showed her a gun in their waist band, and they insisted that she let them into a room," he said. "At that point the housekeeper let herself into the room and locked herself in.

"A second housekeeper was then approached by the two males, and they insisted that they be let into another room," Butts said. "At this point the second housekeeper also locked herself into the room. One of the housekeepers dialed the desk, who dialed 911.

"The housekeepers were very brave and very smart," Butts said.

Police arrived at the scene moments after receiving the call and quartered off the hotel, Butts said.

"We began the search from the penthouse and are working our way down," he said. "We start from the top. We follow this procedure because if you start from the bottom to the top, it can make them more desperate."

Police are not revealing the identity of the occupant of the first room the gunmen tried to enter.