Police Say Slain Robber May Be Part of a Ring

A robber who was shot and killed during an attempted holdup of a gun and vacuum cleaner shop in East San Diego may have been part of a robbery ring that preyed on several other small shops in the last few weeks, police said Wednesday.

Homicide Lt. Gary Learn said the description of the men and their actions fit that of a robbery team that had robbed three or four small markets and other establishments in the past several weeks.

The county medical examiner’s office identified the robber as Victor Craig Williams, 30. His address was unknown.

Although police would not comment Wednesday on Williams’ record, television station KNSD, Channel 39, reported that Williams was a career criminal who had been released from prison several weeks ago. The station said Williams may also have been involved in a College Grove jewelry store heist.

Gary Watson, 47, was alone in the KH Service Center, a gun store and vacuum cleaner repair shop in the 4300 block of Orange Avenue that he co-owned with his father, when Williams and another masked gunman entered about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Learn said.

During an apparent robbery attempt, Watson shot and killed Williams with a .357 magnum, police said. But Watson also was shot once in the abdomen by a semi-automatic pistol and died 90 minutes later while undergoing surgery at Mercy Hospital.

The second robber quickly left the shop and fled down an adjacent alley in a yellow 1979 Datsun driven by a third masked man, Learn said.

Police don’t know the identities of the two who escaped.

A revolver found in the alley just outside the store may have been belonged to the robbers, police said. The car, which was reported stolen several days earlier, was found abandoned on Van Dyke Avenue, about five blocks from the shooting.

Learn said police won’t know if anything was taken from the store until an inventory is complete. A glass case containing handguns appeared to have been broken into, but a similar case in the back of the store that contained rifles was left intact, Learn said.