A large-scale police operation in North Hollywood overnight Thursday may be connected to a home burglary and kidnapping in Woodland Hills, authorities said.
Police surrounded a house on 11200 block of Kling Street with SWAT teams and armored vehicles, using a flash bang device during the search warrant operation.
Neighbors were startled by the intense police presence that included dozens of law enforcement vehicles, armored cars and helicopters.
“We could see there were cars right here, lots of lights and things,” said Deni Dugan, who lives nearby. “Our neighbor who lives in the house on the next street over texted saying ‘are you hearing all this?'”
That neighbor relayed to Dugan that a police officer had informed her that there was a search warrant being served.
Video from the scene showed at least one person being detained as part of the overnight investigation in North Hollywood.
On Friday morning, police confirmed that this incident is related to another crime that took place early Thursday morning on the 22900 block of Calvert Street in Woodland Hills.
Surveillance footage from that incident showed several armed thieves carrying large bags and fleeing in a getaway car. Details are limited, but that burglary also involved a potential kidnapping, police said.
Investigators traced their leads to the North Hollywood location where a raid took place and all potential kidnapping victims were identified and deemed safe.
Authorities have yet to say how the two incidents are connected.
While at the scene of the North Hollywood operation Friday morning, a man inside the raided home told KTLA’s Annie Rose Ramos that the incident was a “mixup” and that those detained were released by police. KTLA has not yet confirmed that person’s claim.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the connection between the two locations and the circumstances of the alleged robbery and potential kidnapping.