Isaias Quinones, 40

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Isaias Quinones, 40, a Latino man who worked as an armed security guard, was fatally shot about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, in a bank parking lot at 29th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard in Jefferson Park.

Quinones was approached by two black men in the parking lot at a Bank of America branch, said Officer Kate Lopez, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Police Department. She said there was an altercation and one of the men pulled out a gun and shot Quinones several times. The guard was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, she said.

Lopez said it was unclear whether the two men were trying to rob the bank. Authorities reported that Quinones may have been shot with his own gun. An employee at a nearby store said she saw two men bend down and grab something before fleeing on foot.

‘It made me cry,’ she said. The guard ‘woke up thinking it’s another day of work, another day of life.’

Leticia Bellez, 36, who went to the bank with her 96-year-old grandmother to withdraw money before the Labor Day weekend, said she was stunned to hear of the killing.

‘He was friendly and very courteous,’ she said. ‘He would always open the door for us.’

Jimmie James, another bank patron, said his initial thought when he arrived at the bank was that the guard had killed someone. ‘Then I found out he was the one that got killed,’ he said.

‘He was telling me the other day about how he was going to quit because he didn’t feel safe,’ James said.

This is the second fatal shooting involving an armed security guard. On Friday, April 18, Hernan Cardona, 60, was shot and killed outside an Auto Zone in Arlington Heights, just two miles from the bank. No arrests have been made in that shooting.

Anyone with information about the Quinones shooting is asked to call the 24-hour tip line (877) LAWFULL.

Photo: Above, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s bloodhound team was called in to assist the Los Angeles Police Department with the investigation. At right, the guard’s clothing lies on the ground where he was treated by paramedics.

—Ruben Vives / Los Angeles Times