A California judge was ambushed and robbed of his Rolex at gunpoint by three masked men in broad daylight while he walked to work last week, police said.
Alameda County Judge Kevin Murphy had parked his car at a parking garage in downtown Oakland Thursday morning and began the two-block trek to his office in the René C. Davidson Courthouse building when the suspects accosted him.
One of the suspects pulled a gun on the judge while the others ordered him to hand over his Rolex, car keys, wallet, and other personal items, according to ABC7.
The cost of the items was not revealed.
The judge was left unscathed and called the police immediately after the thieves fled the scene.
“We are happy to report the judge was not injured. The suspects are described as three unknown males wearing masks,” the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Robberies involving luxury watches including Rolex’s have increased in the past several months in both California and New York, with many of the hauls being worth thousands of dollars.
Over Memorial Day weekend, five thieves stole $2.5 million in luxury watches from a Staten Island store, while last June, two San Francisco gang members robbed two watches from a group of people worth about $17,000, according to the East Bay Times.
Later the same day, on the south side of the San Francisco Bay, a man with a history of assault convictions, left three dead and three others injured during a crime rampage.
Kevin Parkourana, 31, began the violent series of events at around 3:11 p.m. in San Jose, when he allegedly stabbed a man before stealing the victim’s car and fleeing — hours after Murphy was robbed 40 minutes away.
Parkourana, who was on probation at the time of his rampage, then allegedly stabbed and carjacked a second person before running over a pedestrian in a Target parking lot attempting to flee.
Both stabbing victims were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, but both were stabilized at a hospital, while the pedestrian was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
After the first hit-and-run, Parkourana was seen driving into two more pedestrians before fleeing to nearby Milpitas where he fatally stabbed another individual.
Police arrested Parkourana at a nearby store.
He is currently being held at the Santa Clara County jail without bail and with a court appearance scheduled for June 6, according to inmate records.