Armored Car Guard Slain at Market : Gunman Turns Pistol on Himself as Deputies Close In

An armored car guard was gunned down at a busy Lakewood supermarket Friday by a robber who then turned his pistol on himself as sheriff’s deputies closed in.

The scene unfolded at mid-morning as about 20 shoppers and employees of the Vons market looked on in horror, then ducked to the floor at the sound of the gunfire. As the gunman appeared in the store’s glass-enclosed breezeway, the guard’s partner--locked safely in the armored car just outside--frantically beeped the horn as a warning.

But as his partner swung around holding a sack of cash and store receipts, the robber opened fire, according to a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department.

Store Surrounded

Deputies from the Lakewood station, only a block away, quickly surrounded the market and began to move in. But the gunman, apparently seeing there was no escape, shot himself in the head.

The slain guard, John Allen Stoddart, 25, of Santa Ana, was the third employee of Armored Transport of California in Los Angeles to die in a holdup since October.

The suspect, who died shortly after being taken to the hospital, has not been identified.

Stoddart, who had worked for only a year at Armored Transport, was approached by the robber, his gun drawn, as he was making his way out of the store about 9:45 a.m., according to sheriff’s investigators. The store in the 4000 block of Hardwick Street is across from the Lakewood Center Mall.

When the shooting started, the investigators said, Stoddart managed to get off two shots and wound the robber before he was shot and killed.

“Witnesses inside the store began screaming that the suspect was reloading,” Sheriff’s Deputy Sam Jones said.

Before deputies could enter the store, the suspect put his pistol to his head and shot himself, Jones said. “It appears the suspect acted alone,” he said. Deputies, however, brought a canine unit into the store shortly after the shooting to search for other suspects. none were found.

As soon as the shooting erupted, people started to flee outside, said Merlyn Haase, an electrician who was working in the back of the supermarket.

Liz Bowden, who works at a dry cleaners next to the supermarket, heard screams and gunshots coming from inside and said she “thought it was an explosion.

“I locked up the store right away,” she said. “You’re not safe anywhere anymore.”

Two saleswomen from a nearby dress shop also heard the shots. One of them, Kay Wiser, said that “there was a series of pops, like an automatic” weapon being fired.

A Vons employee, who asked not to be identified, said the store, which opened six years ago, has been robbed twice. A Vons spokeswoman, Mary McAboy, said this is the first time there has been an armored car robbery.

Sheriff’s deputies found the robber’s car--a green jacket and a box of ammunition under the passenger’s seat--parked behind the shopping center. The rust-colored Cadillac had been reported stolen in Redondo Beach on Monday.

Larue Quiznell, 61, owner of the stolen Cadillac, said in a telephone interview that her car was taken from the parking lot of a Vons market near her home in Redondo Beach by a light-haired male with a “Joe College” appearance.

Quiznell said that as she was getting into her car after grocery shopping Monday, the man, whom she described as about 25 years old and 6 feet tall, walked up to her and asked her the time.

But while she was putting bags of groceries into the back seat of her car, the man pulled a pistol, pointed it at her and said, “I really need your car bad.”

“I don’t know how long I stood there,” Quiznell said. “Then he told me, ‘I could blow your head off,’ and my keys went right to him.”

She said she knew her stolen car was found before investigators had the chance to tell her.

“My sister saw it on TV,” Quiznell said.

At his Placentia home, James Stoddart, the dead armored car guard’s father, said he and his wife worried when their son took the job.

“He really liked this job, “ Stoddart said. “We were a little concerned for him. I expected the worst. I’m that kind of person. So I wasn’t surprised (upon hearing of his death).”

“His mom even suggested we buy him a bulletproof vest,” Stoddart said. “I knew he wouldn’t have worn it. We should have done it anyway.”

Guards typically work in pairs, one staying in the armored car at all times, while the other gets out at each of the stops, which number anywhere from 70 to 100 a day. Guards are instructed that, no matter what happens outside the armored car, the guard inside is never to leave the vehicle.

Contributing to this story were Times staff writers Mary Lou Fulton, James M. Gomez and James Rainey.