Police Shoot, Injure 2 Robbery Suspects Near Busy Mall

Two suspected armed robbers were shot and critically wounded by police after detectives followed them from the scene of a robbery in Sherman Oaks, then stopped their getaway car in front of a busy shopping plaza where they fired seven times at the pair, authorities said Friday.

Shoppers in a Music Plus record store dove for cover when they heard the shooting in the 4500 block of Van Nuys Boulevard about 9:20 p.m. Thursday. But no bystanders were injured.

Police said one of the wounded suspects is a convicted robber thought to be responsible for more than two dozen armed robberies in the San Fernando Valley since April.

Police said the incident began as detectives watched William Szijjarto, 26, get out of a car driven by Ricardo Orantes, 26, and enter the Expo 2000 store in the 14500 block of Ventura Boulevard.

Detectives with the Valley Major Violators Task Force were following the two Van Nuys men because Szijjarto had recently been identified as a suspect in a string of robberies of food and retail stores in the area, police said.

$2,000 Robbery

After Szijjarto came out of Expo 2000, officers went inside and learned there had just been a robbery in which $2,000 was taken at gunpoint, police said. Members of the task force who were still following Szijjarto and Orantes attempted to capture them.

Police said they stopped the car at Van Nuys Boulevard and Hortense Street after a short chase and ordered the suspects to get out of the vehicle and raise their hands.

“Szijjarto failed to comply and attempted to point a handgun at the officers,” Officer Don Lawrence said.

Officers Stephen Gnerlic, 29; David Navarro, 33; Thomas Campbell, 33, and Jeffrey Larson, 37, fired a total of seven shots at the suspects in the car. Szijjarto was struck in the head, while Orantes was shot in the chest and arm, police said. They did not return fire.

Police said the weapon found in the car was a pellet gun. The money taken from the store was recovered.

The shooting occurred near the north end of the Sherman Oaks Center, where some businesses, including the record store and a movie theater, were still open. The shots sent some people diving for cover.

Sharyn Litvin, 32, and Michael Brooks, 14, ran into the record store and got down on the floor.

“I thought it was a drive-by shooting” Litvin said. “I thought all kinds of people were going to be hurt because there were a lot of shots.”

Brooks said: “I saw some guy with a rifle yell ‘Freeze!’ then I heard the shots.”

Barry Krugel said he had just walked out of the movie theater where he and his brother had watched “Young Guns” when he heard the real firearms.

“At first I thought a tire had blown,” Krugel said. “When I heard six or seven shots, I knew there was something else going on besides tires going off.”

Police closed Van Nuys Boulevard and the exit ramps of the nearby Ventura Freeway for more than three hours while an investigation of the shooting took place.

Both suspects were taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center after the shooting. Police said Szijjarto was placed on life support equipment. Orantes was transferred to the jail ward at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. “They will be booked for robbery when their condition permits,” Lawrence said.