A search was continuing Tuesday for two hawks that were stolen from a SoFi Stadium parking lot during Sunday’s Rams game when an unknown suspect swiped a utility vehicle carrying the birds.
The theft at 1001 S. Stadium Drive occurred at 2:22 p.m. Sunday when the suspect drove away in a maroon-colored, two-seater Kawasaki Mule utility task vehicle, which had the key left in the ignition, the Inglewood Police Department reported.
“Affixed to the bed of the UTV were two (brown) Harris’s Hawks housed in green containers,” police said in a statement. “These hawks are used during the games by a falconer in order to deter other birds in the area.”
Witnesses saw the suspect drive the UTV off the SoFi Stadium property. The suspect was described only as a man wearing a black shirt and a jacket with a white stripe doing down the shoulder, along with black pants and black shoes.
Inglewood Mayor James Butts told ABC7 Tuesday afternoon that the stolen UTV was found around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Avalon and Century boulevards in South Los Angeles, but the hawks were not with the vehicle.
Charles Cogger, the owner of the birds — named Alice and Bubba, told NBC4 earlier Tuesday that he had been informed by police that the hawks were found dead with the truck. But he was later told that the dead birds were actually a pair of quails that are used to feed the hawks.
Anyone with information regarding the crime was urged to call the Inglewood Police Department at 310-412-5206. Anonymous tips can be made to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or at www.lacrimestoppers.org.