Two Slain in Gunfight at Store; Boy Is Wounded

A shoot-out Tuesday among three would-be robbers and a Compton storekeeper, who purchased a .357-Magnum revolver last year to protect his family-run grocery, left two of the robbers dead and the store owner’s 14-year-old son critically wounded, police said.

Nine members of the family of the grocer, Jose Castillo Sr., were in the store and the small living quarters behind it, but none of the others were injured in the extensive gunfire.

The incident began when three men, at least two of them armed, entered Chico’s Mini-Market at about 4 p.m. and ordered two clerks behind the counter to give them the money in the cash register, Compton Police Sgt. Danny Sneed said.

One of the men was carrying a MAC 10 semiautomatic pistol and walked into a kitchen in the back of the store where he was confronted by Castillo, who had gotten his pistol and was loading it, according to witnesses.

“The father reached for his gun and the guy with the MAC 10 started firing,” Sneed said.

The gunman “sprayed” the back of the store with at least a dozen rounds, critically wounding Jose (Alfie) Castillo, he said.

The elder Castillo then returned the fire, killing two of the intruders.

Gerald Girard Bennett, 18, died at the scene, while Gerald Anthony Bennett, 26 of Compton, died at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, Sneed said. The two men were not related, he said.

Fled With Gun in Hand

The third would-be robber was seen running away from the store, located on the 400 block of Wilmington Avenue, with a gun in his hand, police said.

The younger Castillo was undergoing surgery at the medical center late Tuesday and was listed in extremely critical condition.

The store owner’s daughter, Cynthia Castillo, 16, said she saw the gunmen enter the store and hold guns on two clerks near the cash register.

“I saw them raise their hands and I saw one man pointing a gun and one putting money in a bag,” she said. She said she ran to the back of the store carrying her 2-year-old infant brother and the man followed, apparently thinking she was going to call police.

“Alfie stood up in between us and then I heard a shot and someone screaming,” she said.

Cynthia Castillo said her father had purchased a gun about a year ago for protection. Although the store had never been robbed at gunpoint, it had often been victimized by shoplifters, she said.

First Armed Robbery

Cynthia said she, her brothers, parents and other relatives all work at the grocery store and meat market near downtown Compton.

It was the first armed robbery at the store, according to Sisto Morales, a neighbor who said he had leased the building to Castillo. “We were there for 30 years and nothing happened so I think we were lucky,” Morales said.

Morales said Castillo, a butcher by trade, leased the business two years ago.

Times staff writer Michele Fuetsch contributed to this report