3 Charged in Death of San Fernando Swap Meet Guard : Shooting: The victim, Lucky Teal, held many jobs to support 15 children. One of his tasks was counseling young offenders.

Roland (Lucky) Teal used to preach on Sundays to the young criminal defendants at Sylmar Juvenile Hall. Now a youth charged in his killing is being held there.

The 17-year-old Pacoima youth was among three suspects charged Thursday with murdering Teal, who was a popular security guard at the San Fernando Swap Meet.

Authorities alleged that the juvenile, along with Ricardo Roldan, 19, of Pacoima and Richard Zorns, 19, of Arleta took part in a June 3 robbery at the swap meet in which Teal, 61, was shot in the back when he tried to stop them. Teal was unarmed.

Each suspect was charged with murder, attempted murder and robbery. Roldan and Zorns were being held without bail.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig R. Richman said he will seek to have the 17-year-old tried as an adult and he will ask for the death penalty for Roldan because allegedly he was the triggerman who killed Teal with an Uzi-style assault weapon.

Teal of Pacoima had 15 children and stepchildren. Nine of them, ranging in age from 3 to 16, were living at home at the time of his death and he worked several jobs to support his family. He owned a tire store in Pacoima, headed a crew that swept parking lots at night and for 21 years was a fixture at the swap meet at 585 Glenoaks Blvd.

“Just about everybody in San Fernando knew Lucky,” said Lt. Rico Castro, head of the detective squad at the San Fernando Police Department. “He was always there at the swap meet.”

Teal was known as a friendly man who was eager to help patrons and sellers at the market. Occasionally, he would take children who became lost at the open-air market and feed them while he tried to locate their parents. Often his own children would go to the swap meet when he worked. One of his sons was there when he was shot to death.

“He never had trouble there,” said his wife, Louise. “Everybody knew him and respected him. He didn’t even carry a gun. Before this, there never was a reason to.”

Louise Teal said her husband took time from his busy work schedule to be involved in the Pacoima Chamber of Commerce and to go to the Sylmar Juvenile Hall on Sundays to counsel and preach to young criminal offenders.

“He cared a lot about people and the community,” she said. “He was very involved. That’s why so many people knew him. That’s why this whole thing is so bad.”

According to police, at 4 p.m. on June 3, Roldan and the juvenile suspect allegedly robbed swat meet manager Barnie Pipkin, 68, as he stepped out of his office with bags containing $12,000 in receipts he planned to deposit at a bank.

The robbers fired a shot at Pipkin but missed and fled to a nearby car driven by Zorns, police said. Teal jumped in his van and chased the car, cutting it off on nearby Borden Street. When the juvenile tried to run away with the money bags, Teal grabbed him. Roldan allegedly came up behind Teal and shot him in the back, police said. The suspects escaped.

Detective David Harvey said the investigation focused on Roldan after the investigators reviewed reports on other swap meet robberies and learned of an Oct. 31, 1988, robbery at a Sun Valley swap meet in which an automatic assault rifle was used.

The detectives learned that Roldan had been arrested in the 1988 robbery but was free on $7,500 bail at the time of Teal’s shooting. Roldan was convicted June 5 of robbery and is awaiting sentencing in that case.

Harvey said that on July 12 detectives with a search warrant gathered evidence from Roldan’s home that also implicated Zorns and the juvenile in the robbery and slaying. Zorns was located in the Los Angeles County Jail, where he had been held since July 10 in an unrelated burglary in Arleta. The juvenile was arrested Tuesday when he surrendered at the San Fernando police station.

Police said the three suspects are known to associate with gang members. None of the money taken in the robbery nor the gun used has been recovered.

Louise Teal said Thursday that since her husband’s death she has had to close the tire store because she has her hands full with her young children. She said she is unsure how she will be able to support her family without her husband.

“Lucky did a lot of different jobs--seemed he had his hand in everything--so he could support us,” she said.

“Right now, I don’t know what we are going to do.”