Fate Spares Guard in Holdup

A gun-wielding robber holding up a jewelry counter at South Coast Plaza Thursday apparently panicked, then leveled his 9-mm automatic pistol at a captive security guard and pulled the trigger four times.

The pistol misfired all four times.

According to police, the robber and his two accomplices, all men, fled from Laykin et Cie without trying to grab any loot.

The shaken but lucky guard was given the rest of the day off. “I’ll tell you,” said one store worker, “he’s buying our Lotto tickets this week.”

Store officials refused to identify the guard, saying that for their employees’ safety, they never reveal names.

Police said that at 1:12 p.m., three men, all with handguns drawn, approached the Laykin et Cie located just inside the I. Magnin department store. They got the drop on the clerks and security guard, and one robber forced the guard away from the counter, feeling the guard’s clothing as he went.

The robber detected the guard’s concealed handgun and shouted to the others, police said.

All three robbers began to run out of the store, but one stopped, aimed at the guard and tried to fire four times, ejecting two cartridges in the process, an employee said.

All three ran from the store and were last seen driving away from the shopping center on South Coast Drive, according to police.

A check of the car’s license number showed the car had been stolen in Whittier.

The robbery attempt came five weeks after three gunmen made off with an estimated $450,000 worth of jewelry from Black, Starr & Frost, another jewelry retailer at South Coast Plaza.