Would-Be Robber Died From Internal Bleeding

A would-be bank robber killed by an off-duty Compton police officer Thursday died from severe internal bleeding after being shot in the shoulder, authorities said Friday.

An autopsy Friday showed that Steven D. Smallwood was hit in the shoulder by a 9-millimeter bullet that penetrated his chest cavity and ruptured the aorta artery, the county coroner’s office reported.

Police said Smallwood, 27, was shot about 2:15 p.m. Thursday by officer Paul Wing, who was at the Wells Fargo bank branch at 8781 Knott Ave. in Buena Park doing his personal banking at the time. Police said that Smallwood, wearing a ski mask, entered the bank through a side door brandishing a .38-caliber pistol.

Wing pulled his own 9-millimeter automatic pistol and identified himself as a police officer, and Smallwood fired two shots at Wing before Wing shot Smallwood in the shoulder, police said. Smallwood staggered out to the parking lot and collapsed, dying less than an hour later at Buena Park Community Hospital. No one else in the bank was injured.

Police said Smallwood, who had been convicted of robbing the same bank twice before, escaped Jan. 21 from My Break Transitional Center, a Garden Grove halfway house.

Harvey Demeneces, center director, said Smallwood entered the halfway house Dec. 29.

Smallwood had been released recently from a prison, where he was “doing time for bank robbery,” said FBI spokesman John Hoos.