Beaten Robbery Suspect Asks Victims for Aid : Crime: An apparent fallout among thieves ends in a fracas. The occupants help the injured man, call Westminster police.

WESTMINSTER —  An injured man stumbled back to an apartment Friday asking for help from the people he had just tried to rob, after his partners apparently beat him in a quarrel that began over a female victim, authorities said.

Police said about 5 a.m., Phi Nguyen, 23, of Huntington Beach knocked at an apartment in the 15000 block of Brookhurst Street and told the man who opened the door that he wanted to collect a debt. Nguyen and two partners, whom he recruited “just a short time earlier to protect him in case he gets in a fight,” ransacked the apartment, Sgt. Mike Mittelstaedt said. They didn’t find the man they were looking for, who was hiding in a closet, Mittelstaedt said.

“I guess they didn’t look very well,” he said.

The man in hiding was Duc Nguyen, 32, who told police he did not owe Nguyen “a cent,” Mittelstaedt said. The two had fought about this alleged debt before, he said.

When Nguyen couldn’t collect any money, he decided to rob the place instead, demanding money and jewelry from the occupants, Mittelstaedt said. Four men ages 25 to 32 and one 21-year-old woman were in the apartment, according to police.

“One of the suspects simulated a gun with his hand underneath his shirt,” Mittelstaedt said. “Then they all armed themselves with kitchen knives.”

One of his partners tried to sexually assault the woman, and Nguyen tried to stop him, Mittelstaedt said.

“They squabbled between themselves and left without taking any property,” he said. “Once outside, I guess the other two decided that they have had it with (Nguyen), so they beat him, then took off.”

Nguyen returned to the apartment, where “they tried to clean up his wounds,” Mittelstaedt said. “He had cuts to his face. And while they were doing that, they called the police.”

Nguyen was arrested without incident on suspicion of residential burglary and robbery and remained Friday night at Orange County Jail. The other two men are still at large, according to police.