West Hollywood gym owner pistol-whipped while fending off Rolex robbery

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- The owner of a West Hollywood gym is recovering after he was pistol-whipped while fending off an attempt to rob his Rolex watch.

The brazen daytime attack happened in the 8300 block of Sunset Boulevard Tuesday afternoon in front of the victim's gym. Video shows three masked suspects approach the man on the street as he is walking his dog, a Maltipoo named Hercules.

At least one suspect is armed with a gun. They begin beating and pistol-whipping him as he retreats and then curls up on the ground, but refuses to give up his Rolex and attempts to defend himself.

"I've never had a gun pointed to my forehead, so the one thing I was thinking about is 'This is it. This is it.' I just opened up this gym three months ago, 29 years old," said the victim, Rocco DiStefano.

The victim told Eyewitness News it was just his instinct to fight back, even as the assailants were screaming: "Take it off, take it off, we're gonna shoot you, we're gonna shoot you."

DiStefano said he had taken off his Rolex and had it clenched in his hand.

"I pushed through the person who was hammer-punching me in the back of the head, threw his legs, and I tackled him into the gunman," DiStefano recalled.

He managed to escape and run into the spa next door. DiStefano ended up with some cuts and bruises to his head.

Eventually the suspects run off without the watch and flee in a vehicle.

"I don't want to stop living my life because of these things, but I'm definitely going be more cognizant of where I wear jewelry," DiStefano said.

A similar robbery was reported nearby about half an hour later, according to LAPD.

In that incident, near Third Street and Cochran Avenue, four suspects in a black Cadillac robbed a man of his watch on the street, with at least one of them wielding a semiautomatic handgun. Police have not confirmed if they were the same suspects in the attempted Rolex robbery.

The suspects remain outstanding.