Armed robbers in Danville targeted women in Bentley

DANVILLE, Calif. - In normally quiet Danville, gunshots rang out late Tuesday afternoon, startling residents on a tree-lined street.

"All of sudden, I heard a couple of firecracker noises, then a couple more, and I was like this sounds bad," said Sean Fannan, who was in his pool but went outside to see what was happening.

"There was a lot of commotion in front of the house. There were females in hysterics, a lot of confusion," Fannan said.

It turned out three men had followed a group of women in a Bentley as they drove from San Francisco to a home on Hartford Street near Camino Amigo, just off Danville Boulevard.

"They were followed or something from the city, and they came up to the car. They were robbed," Fannan said.

It happened at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. The women were confronted by the men, two of whom had guns. They stole at least two expensive watches, high-end jewelry and diamonds from the women. The Bentley wasn't stolen.

But during the robbery, the fiance of one of the women came outside.

"He said, ‘Hey hey,’ you know, ‘What’s going on?’ or something, and at that point he said that the bad guys took a couple of shots at him," said another neighbor who didn't want to be named.

But perhaps to the surprise of the robbers, the man who confronted them had a gun of his own.

"He said that they shot at him, and that he had a gun and he returned fire," the neighbor said.

No one was hit by gunfire. The robbers took off in one or two cars.

The 44-year-old man who lives at the home and shot at the robbers was the one who called police. Officers arrived in droves.

"Policemen arrived, had a huge gun, so it was kind of weird, telling everyone to get off the street," Fannan said.

KTVU learned the man who fired his gun is the registered owner of a .40-caliber Glock. He refused to comment on the case.

Neighbors were still in shock Wednesday.

"Part of the reason we moved to this neighborhood is because it’s so safe and everyone, all the neighbors on this street are so nice," Fannan said.