Childhood Friends Shot Dead at Northridge Sandwich Shop : Crimes: An armed man shot the pair after an early-morning robbery. The restaurant is less than half a mile from a police station.

Two longtime friends were shot and killed early Sunday by a robber wielding an automatic weapon at a Northridge sandwich shop within sight of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire station, authorities said.

James David White and Brian Berry, both 19-year-old Northridge residents, died from gunshot wounds to the head after the robber opened fire in the Subway Sandwiches at Devonshire Street and Zelzah Avenue, Detective Michael Brandt said.

The gunman, who fled the shop with an undetermined amount of cash, was still at large Sunday.

White, an employee of the restaurant, was cleaning the shop and chatting with Berry, a friend who had come in to visit, between 1:20 and 1:45 a.m. when the armed man burst in and demanded money, Brandt said. There was no one else in the restaurant, which is open until 2 a.m. on weekends, he said.

The two young men apparently cooperated, emptying the cash register and opening the floor safe in the back of the restaurant, shop manager Stuart Schlosser said. “The guys cooperated to the fullest,” he said.

But as the robber fled the shop, he shot both men in the head, police said.

A customer found White and Berry lying on the floor shortly before 2 a.m. and called police. Berry was pronounced dead by paramedics, and White died later at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

“It was cold-blooded murder. That’s all it was,” said employee Jason Smith, 21.

Crowds of young people gathered outside the restaurant Sunday to remember the two young men, who they said had been friends since childhood. Both graduated in 1990 from Granada Hills High School.

White had worked at the restaurant for several months and planned to attend Pierce College to study acting, friends said. Berry was a welder at a Thousand Oaks shop that specialized in fitting vehicles with trailer hitches, friends said.

“Jim was one of the best guys. He would always be there for you,” said classmate Jennie McDonald, 18. “Brian was a good person. He was very loyal to his friends.”

Berry frequently came to the restaurant to visit White, who was working alone and preparing to close the shop, Schlosser said.

Other employees said the closing shift generally is slow and staffed by only one worker. Yet they said they felt virtually no danger from thieves because the Devonshire police station is less than half a mile away and officers frequented the shop.

“It’s close enough to Devonshire station to walk there, get a sandwich and come back,” Brandt said.

In fact, shop employees said a robbery attempt two or three months ago was foiled when a patrol car pulled into the parking lot just as the robbers left.

“Why couldn’t they have been here this time?” Smith said.

Times staff writer Henry Chu contributed to this story.