BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Police arrest suspect...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Police arrest suspect in store holdup

Costa Mesa Police arrested a 42-year-old parolee Monday evening

when he allegedly tried to get away after holding up a supermarket

using a fake gun, officials said.

Michael Angelo Powell of Westminster walked into the Vons

supermarket in the 100 block of East 17th Street at about 6 p.m.

Monday, approached the store manager with the gun and demanded money

from her, Lt. Dale Birney said.

“The manager saw what she thought was a handgun,” he said. “He

took the money from her, went out the store and drove away.”

A man at the store who witnessed the incident called police,

Birney said.

“He was able to give us a description of the suspect and the car

he was driving,” he said.

Officers spotted Powell’s car in north Costa Mesa. He refused to

stop and led police on a brief pursuit, Birney said.

“After a few minutes, he decided to pull over and surrender

himself to the police,” he said.

Officers arrested Powell at the corner of Sunflower Avenue and

Susan Street. Police also found the fake gun in the car, Birney said.

He said he is not sure how much money was stolen from the store.

Birney said Powell is being charged with robbery, possession of a

replica handgun, felony evading and violation of parole. He is being

held in Costa Mesa jail without bail.

Protest held outside of Syrian Consulate

About 30 Iranians held a peaceful demonstration protesting Syria’s

deportation of two anti-government exiles to Iran outside the Syrian

Consulate in Newport Beach on Monday morning, police said.

The group approached the consulate building at Civic Center Drive

at about 11:15 a.m., Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman said.

Consulate officials called the police not knowing what the group was

there for, he said.

“The group was cooperative,” Shulman said. “They wanted to hand

over a letter to the consulate voicing their opinions.”

Two representatives from the group were allowed into the consulate

to hand over the letter. Once that was done, the group left, Shulman

said.

He said traffic was not disrupted because of the protest.