Baker Beaten in El Cajon Doughnut Shop

A doughnut baker was beaten and left for dead early Saturday by two assailants who struck him on the head with a piece of wood, then fled from the El Cajon doughnut shop with a cash register and doughnuts, police said.

El Cajon police said they received a call from Them Lay Tang, who said he had been robbed shortly before 1 a.m. When officers arrived at Christy’s Donuts in the 600 block of Jamacha Road, they found Tang lying in a storeroom suffering from head injuries. He had been struck over the head with a 2-by-4, police said.

Tang, 22, was flown to Sharp Memorial Hospital by Life Flight helicopter, where he was listed in serious condition Saturday afternoon.

Police said that in examining the shop, they determined that the assailants had taken the cash register and an undetermined amount of doughnuts.

About an hour later, police received a tip that two suspicious males were in the parking lot of Granite Hills High School. The caller said the pair appeared to be trying to open a cash register.

The pair was gone when police arrived. They said a description of the two suspects led officers to the home of a 16-year-old boy, who directed police to the home of a second suspect, Jonathan Huntley Rice, 18.

The suspects, both of El Cajon, were booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and robbery. The juvenile was not identified because of his age.