Dream and a Life Are Shattered by Bullet : Crime: A year after a fruit vendor finally gets his own store, robbers gun him down.

After five years of peddling fruit to passers-by as a street vendor, last year Timotec Pena was finally given the chance to live out one of his dreams as the proud owner of Sinaloa Meat Market & Grocery in South-Central Los Angeles.

Instead of having to go to his customers, they now came to Pena. And he enjoyed being his own boss, family and friends recalled Wednesday.

On most days, they said, you could find the 43-year-old merchant inside his store working the cash register, clowning with customers or playing with his five children when they visited.

But on Tuesday evening, Pena lay dead just outside the tiny market’s entrance, the victim of a foiled armed robbery. He was shot and killed after he resisted the two men who entered the store and demanded money from the cash register, Los Angeles Police Detective J.R. Kwock said. After a brief struggle with the robbers, Pena was fatally wounded. He was pronounced dead by paramedics at 7:40 p.m., Kwock said.

Police are seeking the two gunmen, who left the store empty-handed and fled in a green, 1978-79, four-door Toyota Corolla.

On Wednesday afternoon, a small group of Pena’s family members, friends and customers stood quietly outside the store in the 6500 block of San Pedro Street and watched as a sobbing Francesca Pena, the victim’s widow, and others entered the market.

Family members described Pena as a “kind and generous” man. Born in Durango, Mexico, he moved to Los Angeles in 1971, where he worked a stream of manual labor jobs, his brother, Pedro, said.

After selling oranges on San Pedro Street for five years, Pedro Pena said his brother was able to purchase the grocery store, which he ran with his wife and five children, who range in age from 9 months to 12 years old.

“He was just a sweet man,” recalled Jean McClinton, one of Pena’s customers, as she stood outside the store. “I remember one time when I was out of money and needed to buy groceries. Pena didn’t even know me and he let me purchase the stuff on credit.

“He didn’t bother nobody,” said McClinton, who said she stayed outside the store for seven hours after the shooting Tuesday observing the authorities’ investigation. “Everyone liked him. He is going to be missed.”

Others echoed McClinton’s sentiments.

Jose Chaidez, 12, one of Pena’s nephews, said his uncle was always giving to him and his family.

“He bought me things and was always encouraging me to do my best,” he said.

Chaidez said he was playing when he heard a shot.

“I rushed over to the store with my little cousin and I saw my uncle lying on the ground,” he said. “I don’t know why anyone would shoot him.”

Neighbor Hermelenda Felix said she thought Pena’s life could have been saved if authorities had arrived sooner.

“They took a long time coming. We called and called but they were real slow,” Felix said. “People don’t seem to care when people get shot over here.

“We don’t feel very safe in this neighborhood.”

Nick Gonzales, another witness, disagreed, saying that whenever help arrived it would have been too late.

“I heard the shot and then I saw him fall,” Gonzales said. “When I got to the store I realized there was nothing I could do. He was already gone.”