Ex-Worker Held in Restaurant Killings : Crime: The 22-year-old man is arrested at his apartment. He was fired by the Northridge sandwich shop in October.

A former employee of a Northridge sandwich shop has been arrested on suspicion of robbing the shop last month and shooting to death a clerk and the clerk’s lifelong pal, Los Angeles police said Wednesday.

James Robinson, 22, was arrested about 8 p.m. Tuesday outside the Northridge apartment he had rented hours after James White and Brian Berry, both 19, were killed “execution-style” by a robber at Subway Sandwiches at Devonshire Street and Zelzah Avenue, Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker said.

Robinson, who police said was fired from the shop in October because he was suspected of stealing about $200, was being held without bail pending his arraignment today in San Fernando Municipal Court on murder and robbery charges. He denied being the killer, police said.

White, an employee of the shop for several months, and Berry, his best friend since the fourth grade, were visiting inside the shop about 1:30 a.m. June 30 when an armed man walked in and demanded money, police said. White and Berry apparently cooperated, giving the robber all the money from the cash register and safe, police said.

But just before the robber fled with about $580 in cash, he shot both men in the head, police said.

It was unclear if either man knew Robinson, who had been fired before White was hired. Other employees said Robinson still came to the store occasionally to visit and buy sandwiches.

Detectives said they began to suspect Robinson, a meat wrapper at a Canoga Park grocery store, after leads poured in from the public. They declined to discuss which tips led to the arrest, and whether any of the tipsters would be eligible for the $35,000 in rewards offered by the Los Angeles City Council and the Subway sandwich companies.

Police said Robinson has a history of arrests, but characterized them as “nothing major.” Officers said Robinson is not a suspect in a string of robberies at nearly 50 Los Angeles Subway shops since July, 1990.

The families of White and Berry expressed relief over Robinson’s arrest at a news conference Wednesday.

“I thank God” that Robinson “is off the street,” said White’s mother, Kristine.

After Robinson’s arrest, detectives said they found the semiautomatic pistol they suspect was used in the slayings. Also confiscated from Robinson’s second-floor apartment was other evidence linking him to the crime, including clothes matching the description given by a witness, Lt. Al Durrer said.

In police interviews, though, Robinson denied involvement in the crime. “At this point, he’s given us some statements, but he’s not indicating that he’s the one who did it,” Detective Terry Richardson said.

Robinson, who was taking classes part time at Cal State Northridge, rented the bachelor’s apartment where he was arrested about 12 hours after the robbery. Manager Donna Lopez said he offered to pay for the first month’s rent with cash he had stuffed in a waist pack, but she insisted that he get a money order instead.

Lopez and Robinson’s former co-workers described Robinson as a relaxed man with a good sense of humor who seemed hard-working. All expressed surprise at his arrest.

“It blew me away,” said Shawn Keohen, 17, of Northridge, who had worked with both Robinson and White at the sandwich shop. “It was weird.”

The killings sent shock waves through the tight-knit community of Subway franchise owners in the San Fernando Valley, many of whom repeated longstanding complaints that the operating hours mandated by the company put them at risk. Franchise agreements require stores to remain open until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. on weekends.

Ruth Sender, president of OhCal Foods Inc., the Woodland Hills company that supervises Subway franchises in Southern California, said the firm’s executives were “heavily considering” reducing operating hours and increasing the security measures required in each shop. In the meantime, local franchisees have been told to “do what they need to do,” Sender said, but she declined to say whether shopkeepers who close early will be penalized by the company.

Regardless of whether Subway World Headquarters in Milford, Conn., changes the approved operating hours, shop manager Stuart Schlosser said, he now closes at 10 p.m. on weeknights and at midnight on weekends.

Also Wednesday, detectives acknowledged that a silent alarm at the restaurant had been activated during the robbery, but the signal was not relayed to police. Although the Devonshire Division police station is less than half a mile from the restaurant, White and Berry were not discovered until about 20 minutes after the robbery, when a customer found the two men on the floor.

Berry was dead, and White died later at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

It was unclear why the system failed to relay the alarm, and owners of Unique Security Alarm in Pacoima did not return telephone calls from The Times.

Schlosser said he had not paid for the alarm service for four or five months because two sensors in the store were not functioning properly. He said he and the owner of the alarm company had agreed that Schlosser would withhold the $35 monthly fee until repairs were made.

Even if the alarm system had been functioning properly, Schlosser said he doubted that it would have done any good. The killer probably kept White and Berry away from the activation button near the cash register until the final moments of the robbery, Schlosser said.