A Southern California couple's attempt to sell an iPad turned into a violent encounter when they were attacked and robbed by armed assailants in Pomona, as captured in chilling video footage from their vehicle's camera. Eduardo Reyes, the iPad seller, met the potential buyer via OfferUp, a platform often used for such local sales, KTLA reports.
The ordeal unfolded when Reyes and his wife, following up on interest expressed in a message received on December 23, agreed to meet the purported buyer in a residential locale—Reyes was enticed to the location under the impression that he was dealing with a young buyer who would be accompanied by his mother but instead, they were confronted by two suspects, one of whom brandished a handgun forcing the showdown. Reyes recounted to KABC that the suspect aggressively shoves the barrel of his handgun against Reyes’ neck while trying to grab his iPad and his initial disbelief that the weapon was real escalated rapidly as one suspect fired the gun into the air.
The surveillance video shows Reyes struggling to retain possession of the iPad as another assailant slammed his wife to the ground, according to KTLA. Ultimately, the attackers fled with the iPad and the wife's cell phone, which was later found in a yard close by. Reyes sustained head injuries from being pistol-whipped, leading him to seek medical treatment; he voices relief that his encounter with the robbers, who discharged their firearms multiple times, did not have a fatal conclusion.
In the aftermath, both Reyes and the police emphasize the importance of safety in private sales: choose public, well-lit meeting spots, investigate buyers' backgrounds, and consider safeguarding meetups by situating them near police stations—a lesson Reyes, despite his previous success in over 50 transactions on OfferUp, has painfully learned and vowed to implement, as he told KABC, "Definitely not doing that again." The investigation remains ongoing, with Pomona police urging anyone with information about the suspects to come forward and assist in their apprehension before they target other victims.
