Robbers Kill Tustin Father at Pay Phone

A Tustin man who stopped to use a pay telephone late at night in South Central Los Angeles was shot to death in front of his wife during a holdup by three young men, police said Friday.

Detectives said David and Namora Thompson apparently had been on an outing with a church group and drove into a gas station at Slauson Avenue and Broadway just before midnight Thursday, reportedly to telephone for help because a church bus had broken down nearby.

When Thompson, 30, got out of his car, according to Lt. Stella Mattson of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Newton Division, three armed suspects in their late teens appeared. One of them robbed Thompson of an undetermined amount of money while the others confronted the wife in the car and took $10 from her purse.

Cooperated With Robbers

Then, detectives said, even though Thompson appeared to be cooperating with the gunmen, he was shot once in the head with a small-caliber pistol.

As he collapsed on the sidewalk, the three suspects pushed Thompson’s horrified wife out of the car and sped away in it. They were last seen going south on Broadway. The car was described as a gray 1986 Hyundai.

Wife Not Injured

Namora Thompson was not injured, but she was reported too distraught Friday afternoon to be interviewed by detectives. In Tustin, Nancy Dunning, manager of the apartment house where the Thompsons have been living since 1984, said they have a 3-year-old son and an infant.

Had the Lock Changed

Dunning said Namora Thompson came home with a friend Friday to have the lock changed on the door of the apartment because her keys were taken from her purse by the robbers. She “held herself together” during the brief visit, Dunning said, but broke down once she was outside.

Meanwhile, employees at California First Bank in Santa Ana, where Namora Thompson works, set up a hardship fund for her and her children. Diana Martin, a co-worker at the bank, said contributions could be sent to the Thompson Family Fund at the bank, P.O. Box 839, Santa Ana 92702.

Martin said Namora Thompson is “very, very well liked in the office.

“We were devastated this morning when we heard what happened,” she said.