Boys Rob Jewelry Store in Reseda, Wound Employee

Three boys, described by witnesses as 12 to 15 years old, shot and wounded an employee of a Reseda jewelry store Tuesday before fleeing with an undetermined amount of valuables, Los Angeles police said.

Detective Robert Johansen said the three robbers entered Talbert Jewelers in the 18300 block of Sherman Way at about 3:45 p.m. and ordered the four employees to lie on the floor. No customers were in the store.

One of the youths, carrying a sledgehammer, smashed three jewelry cases, and another loaded valuables into a bag. The third held the employees at bay with what police believe was a .38-caliber pistol, Johansen said.

When the store’s credit manager, Ron Flury, 48, of Sylmar, tried to escape through the rear door, the armed youth fired twice, striking Flury once in the left arm, Johansen said.

The robbers were last seen driving west on Sherman Way in a late-model, red, four-door Pontiac, Johansen said.

Flury was treated at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and released.

“They were just kids, just punk kids,” he said later. “They came barging in the store, and I thought, ‘Trouble.’ The whole thing was very scary. I’ve been through robberies before, but not like this. They were mean-looking kids.”