‘I saw them and knew what they were coming for’: Store owner recounts fighting back during alleged robbery
The threat of being shot to death led a Burbank doughnut shop owner to fight back against two armed robbers in late March.
Raul Gutierrez was getting ready for the day at Kim’s Donuts and Coffee on March 22 when two masked robbers entered the store sometime before 5:30 a.m.
“I saw them and knew what they were coming for,” the 45-year-old father of two said. “I just let them know that they can take or rob whatever money was in the cash register.”
At least one of them was armed and pointed a handgun at Gutierrez while the other went through his pockets.
After complying with the robbers, he said the two kept pushing him toward the back of the store.
“I didn’t have any more money so I thought they were going to beat or shoot me either way, so at that point … it made me decide to go for it, to go for the gun,” Gutierrez said.
According to Sgt. Derek Green with the Burbank Police Department, one of the suspects attempted to shoot Gutierrez in the chest with the gun, but it didn’t fire.
The store owner said he was able to take the handgun’s magazine during the struggle.
Gutierrez was subsequently struck in the face, splitting his lip in the process, and the two robbers fled.
On April 28, Burbank police announced the arrest of a man and a woman on suspicion of committing the robbery.
Green said evidence left behind at the doughnut shop led them to a South Los Angeles home where Timothy Hayes and Unique Rivers, both 20, were arrested.
Authorities also recovered clothing worn by the robbers at the home, according to Green.
News of the arrest brought relief to Gutierrez, who feared the two might come back to the shop.
“I was a little worried that they’d come back for revenge,” he said.
In addition to the robbery at Kim’s Donuts, Hayes and Rivers are suspected of committing five other armed robberies in Los Angeles County — three in L.A. and two in Glendale.
One of the robberies, at a gas station in Glendale, happened only minutes before the pair went to Kim’s Donuts, according to Green.
Hayes and Rivers have been each charged with one count of attempted murder along with five counts of robbery and six counts of burglary, for which they have pleaded not guilty.
Each is being held on $1.3 million bail.
Twitter: @Andy_Truc
