Update, 10:31 p.m.: The jewelry thief was shot dead

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The Shops in Mission Viejo became a crime scene today when at 5:30 p.m., a gunman robbed a jewelry store, taking two women hostage, according to a witness, and eventually being shot by sheriff's deputies. According to another witness, security guards chased the man through the mall to a parking structure where he was met by police where shots were fired. Other than the alleged robber, no one else was hurt during the incident.

The Orange County Register said that "Mission Viejo is regularly ranked among America's safest cities when annual national crime statistics are released."

As reported in Extra, Extra, two other stories came out of Orange and Riverside Counties this weekend. An off-duty cop in Temecula allegedly shot 2 and killed 1 person over some sort of melee at a Mexican restaurant in Riverside and a dead woman was found packed in dry ice during a drug bust.

Photo by VeryBadLady via Flickr