Several Money Bags Taken at Fox Hills Mall : Armored Car Robbed in Culver City Shoot-Out

Two gunmen exchanged shots with an armored car guard before escaping with an unknown amount of money Monday morning in a robbery at the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, authorities said.

No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 8:45 a.m. on the second floor of the mall’s parking structure, but the gunmen made off with several money bags that were being loaded onto the Loomis armored car, Culver City Police Lt. Tom Gabor said.

Later Arrest

Later Monday, a Culver City police officer arrested a Los Angeles man in the robbery of a local office of Security Pacific National Bank about 12:30 p.m.

Police said they were unsure if the two holdups are related.

In the mall robbery, Gabor said, two men approached a guard who was loading the bags onto the truck in the parking structure and pointed handguns at him.

“One of the guards heard footsteps, turned around and saw the guys with guns coming toward him,” Gabor said. “(The robbers) fired, and the guard returned fire. He then found cover.”

The lieutenant said a second guard remained in the armored car throughout the gun battle, which lasted several seconds.

After the shoot-out, Culver City police officers combed the mall and surrounding area but did not find the gunmen. Officers did recover a .357-magnum pistol, a .38-caliber pistol and seven bags of cash, checks, credit card forms and other valuables.

During the police search, employees were evacuated from the mall, which does not open until 10 a.m.

Gabor said police do not know how much money was taken but said the pick-up site is where all of the stores in the mall deposit their cash and receipts. He added that the area was not a secured one.

“Anybody could walk near it,” the lieutenant said.

Loomis officials declined to comment on the incident.

$600 in Cash Taken

In the second robbery, a man made off with about $600 in cash from the Security Pacific National Bank at 11140 Jefferson Blvd., Gabor said. Moments after the robbery, Culver City Officer Pat Munson arrested Valdez Wright, 25, near an industrial building just outside the city limits after chasing Wright in a car and on foot.

A search of the car that Wright was driving turned up a loaded .38-caliber handgun, gloves, a nylon stocking and about $600 in cash, Gabor said.

Gabor said Munson had tried to flag down the car after noticing that Wright fit the description of the bank robber.

At first, the lieutenant said, Wright attempted to escape by weaving his car in and out of traffic along Jefferson Boulevard and then darting onto nearby side streets.

Unable to elude Munson, Wright jumped out of the car and was captured behind the industrial building, just blocks from the bank.

Gabor said witnesses from the bank identified Wright as the robber.

“At this point there’s nothing to link him to the Fox Hills incident, but we are looking at the possibility,” the lieutenant said.

Times staff writer George R. Fry contributed to this story.