2nd Killing at All-Night Markets in 4 Months : Clerk at N. Hollywood 7-Eleven Slain in $13 Robbery

A clerk in an all-night North Hollywood market was shot to death early Wednesday during a robbery by two men who escaped with $13, Los Angeles police said.

Sudhir Walia was killed by a single shot in the abdomen from a handgun, police said. Authorities estimated the victim’s age at 32 and said they had no home address for him.

Although several witnesses outside the store saw the men flee, Walia was alone inside the 7-Eleven market in the 11300 block of Moorpark Street when the two robbers entered at 2:15 a.m., said Detective Ted Ball.

It was the second slaying of a 7-Eleven clerk in the San Fernando Valley in four months.

Walia, a native of India, was pronounced dead at 3:30 a.m. at St. Joseph Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said.

Walia had been employed at the store for 18 months, said Richard Irwin, a Southern California spokesman for the Dallas-based Southland Corp., which franchises 7-Eleven stores.

Ball said witnesses described the robbers as 18 to 20 years old and said they fled in a light-colored car.

In August, 38-year-old Shankar Roy of North Hollywood, also a native of India, was shot to death in a 7-Eleven in Van Nuys with a handgun, police said.

No arrest has been made in the case, police said.

Irwin said that, despite the two recent slayings, 7-Eleven has made “dramatic progress” in reducing robberies through an employee education program begun in 1976.

He said robberies are down 44% in the 600 Southern California stores and 60% nationwide since the program began.

Clerks are taught not to resist robbery attempts and to keep change in the cash register to a minimum, Irwin said.

Also, the company urges franchise holders to keep windows cleared so that passers-by can observe and report suspicious activity.

Citing company policy, Irwin declined to provide the actual number of robberies.

An employee at the store where Walia was killed declined to provide information on the incident.