Armored Car Guard, Thief Exchange Fire in Supermarket

Gunfire erupted Thursday in a North Hollywood supermarket when a thief grabbed a bag of cash containing several thousand dollars from an armored-car guard, police said.

Blood was later found on the passenger side of an abandoned, silver 1979 Mazda RX-7 that the robber and his accomplice used to get away, leading police to believe that the thief was wounded, said Lt. Bruce F. Meyer, of the Los Angeles Police Department’s robbery and homicide division.

No one else was hurt in the robbery, which began about 1:15 p.m. at Gelson’s Market, 4738 Laurel Canyon Blvd., police said.

“Most of us thought it was firecrackers or bottles breaking at first,” said Golan Stuchinski, an 18-year-old clerk’s helper who was bagging groceries when the first of about eight shots sounded. “Then a couple of ladies screamed, and a lot of people ran outside the store, including me.”

Meyer said the incident began when the armored guard, an employee of Armored Car Transport Co. of California, went to the back of the store to pick up some cash.

A short man about 25 years old poked a gun in the guard’s abdomen and grabbed the pouch filled with cash as the guard was walking back toward the front of the store, Meyer said.

Police would not reveal the exact amount stolen. They would only say that several thousand dollars had been taken.

After taking the pouch, the thief ran toward the back of the store, where he was met by an accomplice, police said.

The thief fired several shots at the guard, who returned the fire, Meyer said.

The two men then fled in the silver Mazda, later determined to have been stolen June 5 from an Alhambra woman.

The car was found about half an hour later parked around the corner in a carport in the 11000 block of Kling Street, police said.

They used dogs to search the area but turned up no suspects.

Authorities were checking area hospitals for people treated for bullet wounds, Meyer said.

The robbers probably escaped in another car left near the carport, he said.

Gelson’s was closed for about two hours after the robbery so that employees could repair several light fixtures damaged by the gunfire.