Los Angeles police have identified street gangs as the perpetrators behind the brazen robberies that followed the house, where people are driven to their homes from luxury locations, stripped of their jewelry or other belongings, and sometimes shot. “We have seen countless people injured with guns aimed at them,” Capt. Jonathan Tippet, who leads a special LAPD “home robbery” team, told the city police on Tuesday. “Many others deal with stab wounds and injuries, kicks, beatings, punches and hit them in the head with a pistol.” Los Angeles Police Officer Signal. (iStock) At least 17 gangs, most of them based in South Los Angeles, have carried out independent robberies, sometimes using observers to target people wearing high-quality watches or driving expensive cars, according to Tippet. LOS ANGELES ARREST SUSPECT OF TAKING HOME AFTER RELEASED EARLY FROM PRISON Up to five loads of people have pursued certain goals at home, Tippet said. Three suspects in armed robberies at home were arrested earlier this month, including a man who has been arrested three times this year. The suspects held the victim at gunpoint and demanded his watch, police said. (FOX11 Los Angeles KTTV) (FOX11 Los Angeles KTTV) LOS ANGELES FOLLOW-HOME ROBBERS PISTOL-WHIP VICTIM IN VIDEO, SAYS POLICE While a pair of gunmen follow robbers were seen on camera last month shooting a victim outside downtown Los Angeles with a pistol. Tippet said there were 165 such suspensions last year and 56 so far this year, including five in a recent two-day period. Thirteen victims were shot, including two people who lost their lives. Tippet said such attacks were “almost unheard of” before last year. BEVERLY HILLS GUNS SEES HUMANITY IN BUSINESS AFTER HOME MURDER “In my 34 years in Los Angeles, I have never seen this kind of criminal behavior” in such large, coordinated groups, Tippet said. LOS ANGELES, California, USA – March 2009: Palm trees and flower beds on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Hollywood (iStock) Los Angeles plagued by crime in recent months, including police issuing repeated warnings continuous home robberies Late last year, robberies of rape and kidnapping and an increase in homicides last year, including the fatal shooting of philanthropist Jacqueline Avan while she was at her wealthy Beverly Hills home. The Associated Press contributed to this report.