Armed Robbers Kill Motel Manager in Westminster

A Westminster motel manager was shot and killed late Sunday after being robbed by two unidentified gunmen, police said Monday.

The victim, Robert Luther Thompson, 59, was counting the cash receipts with his wife about 11:30 p.m. Sunday in their apartment in the Westminster Motel 6 when they were approached by two men, said Sgt. Warren O’Neill.

Thompson’s wife, Helen, told police that her husband handed over the money, then one of the gunmen fired at him repeatedly with a handgun. The robbers then fled on foot, taking an undetermined amount of money, O’Neill said.

Helen Thompson phoned Westminster police and when paramedics arrived, her husband was taken to Fountain Valley Community Hospital, where he was dead on arrival, O’Neill said.

The Thompsons lived in the manager’s apartment immediately adjacent to the motel’s front office, which had been closed at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

The motel is immediately off the Westminster Avenue exit of the San Diego Freeway.

Business at the motel Monday was brisk and there were no visible signs of the previous night’s activities.

By midday, two people were sunning by the swimming pool and the maids were going through rooms cleaning up after departed guests.

One maid, Marylou Serowik, said she was very disturbed when she went to work Monday and was told by the head maid that there had been a murder the night before.

“In the year and a half I’ve been here, I never heard of anything . . . no robberies or anything,” she said.

Police say their investigation is continuing.