Detectives Slay Holdup Suspect Outside Store

A man believed to be a member of the “Get Down Gang,” which police believe has robbed at least eight grocery stores, was shot and killed Thursday night by San Diego police on a stakeout at a market near Del Mar. A man suspected of being the dead man’s accomplice was arrested.

Neither man’s name was immediatedly available.

The incident occurred about 9 p.m. as the Big Bear Super Market, in a shopping center at 2707 Via de la Valle, was closing, according to store employees.

The two men, dressed in hooded sweatshirts and brandishing handguns, pushed their way into the store, raided the cash registers and ordered the assistant manager to open the store’s safe.

“One of them hit me in the head with a gun and then held it to my head,” said a shaken Mark Whritner, the assistant manager.

“He kept yelling, ‘You got four seconds. You got one more chance, buddy, or I’ll blow your head off,’ ” said Whritner, who opened the safe.

The robbers, who Whritner estimated made off with less than $1,000, then darted out the door, were they were confronted by two detectives who had staked out the area, Lt. Dave Elliott said. The detectives were in the parking lot and had watched the robbery unfold, he added.

“They waited until the suspects came outside and they tried to arrest them. One of (the suspects) turned on one of the officers with a gun and he was shot,” Elliott said.

The dead man’s partner was arrested without a struggle. A stolen car described as the robbers’ getaway vehicle was discovered later in the parking lot of an adjacent restaurant.