Man Arrested in Shooting Death of Auto Shop Owner

A tip from a witness led to the arrest Friday of a man believed to be involved in the shooting death Thursday of a West Los Angeles transmission shop owner who was killed during a robbery in which cash and an expensive Rolex watch were taken.

It was the second incident in Los Angeles this week in which the theft of a Rolex led to death.

Police on Friday arrested Phillip Conrad Sanders, 38, in the shooting death of Melvin Thompson, 49, owner of Kayser’s Service in the 11000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard.

Police said a tip from a witness led them to a Sylmar house where Sanders had been staying. A second man was still being sought Friday.

Sanders was being held without bail at the West Los Angeles police station after he was booked on suspicion of murder, Detective Andy Monsue said.

Police believe that Sanders was the gunman who shot and killed Thompson as he was closing up shop for the night.

Police declined to release many details of the incident.

However, they said the gunman entered the shop, took an undetermined amount of cash and then took the watch from Thompson, who was alone.

During the incident, Thompson was shot several times but it was not clear if he was shot before or after the robbery or if he struggled with the gunman.

The gunman then fled in a car driven by a second man, whom police have not been able to identify, Monsue said. A witness saw the car fleeing the scene and jotted down the license number, police said. Police, using that information, traced Sanders to the Sylmar home.

Thompson’s wife of 10 years, Catherine, was on her way to the shop to pick up her husband at the time of the shooting.

Approaching the garage, “I heard what I thought was backfire,” but someone told her that a man with a gun had entered the shop. She fled, she said, and called 911 from a pay phone.

Thompson was taken to the UCLA Medical Center where he died at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Catherine Thompson said her husband never took the watch to work, bringing it out only on “weekends and special occasions.”

“He never wore it to the shop,” she said. But he decided he would take it to a jeweler Thursday. “He had lost some weight and he needed to have some links taken out.”

Thompson, his wife said, did not worry about his safety because he considered it a relatively safe neighborhood. Still, he told her that if someone ever held up the store while she was working, she should turn over all the money without arguing, she said.

Catherine Thompson said her husband’s shop had been burglarized several times before, including once about three months ago.

“It’s going to be hard,” she said, sobbing.

Her grief was shared by others who knew Thompson. “He was a nice guy who always tried to help people,” said Patty Downs, a secretary from Bud Hand Sports Car Co., located across the street from Kayser’s. “He would do anything you asked. He even loaned money to street people.”

Thompson’s death marked the second shooting in a week tied to the theft of a Rolex watch, which can range in value from $950 to $23,000. On Tuesday, a 42-year-old man was shot in his newly purchased Beverly Hills home by a gunman who struggled with him over one of the watches.

Renee Grissin, spokeswoman for Rolex, a New York City-based watch company, said she was aware of the two incidents in Los Angeles, but had not received word of similar thefts in other areas.

Detective Monsue said police were exploring the possibility that Thompson’s killer was someone he knew previously--either as a customer or an acquaintance.