Fountain Valley : Police Seek Positive ID on Slain Holdup Suspect

The body of an armed robbery suspect who went by the name of Angel Delgadillo Sanchez lay in a morgue Wednesday as police waited for someone to positively identify him.

The man was shot to death last week during the holdup of a Fountain Valley convenience store.

Fountain Valley police said Wednesday that they had identified the body as that of Sanchez by a check of FBI fingerprint records. But Sgt. Larry Griswold said they can’t be sure that Sanchez is his real name because the FBI got his fingerprints during an immigration arrest in the El Centro area.

“The reason there is some question, when these folks are arrested coming across the border, they rarely have identification, so it is the norm--not the exception, but the norm--that they give a false name,” Griswold said Wednesday.

According to Griswold, Sanchez died of a gunshot wound suffered when he and another man entered the Bushard Market in Fountain Valley last Friday and allegedly demanded money from the store clerk. One of the men held a large knife and the other a baseball bat, the clerk told police.

Griswold said the clerk then pulled out a .38-caliber pistol he kept in the store and fired a shot, striking Sanchez in the upper body. The clerk told police he was not sure whether another shot had hit the second robber, who fled.

Police appealed Wednesday to anyone with information about the incident or the deceased to come forward to verify his identity. Griswold said the man tentatively identified as Sanchez was a male Latino, about 20 years old, 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes.

The robber who escaped was described as being in his early 20s, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with a slim build, black hair and a mustache. The pair were seen riding in a newer-model white compact pickup with a roll bar and oversized, slightly raised tires, according to police.