2 Attempting to Rob Market Cause Terror by Firing 14 Shots

Two gunmen terrified customers and employees at a Lucky Food Center in Van Nuys on Tuesday when they fired 14 gunshots in an unsuccessful attempt to rob the grocery store’s office, police said.

None of the estimated 50 people in the store at 6821 Lennox Ave. on the corner of Vanowen Street was hurt. “This could have been a blood bath,” Los Angeles police spokesman Dennis Zine said.

Two robbers wearing ski masks entered the store waving handguns about 12:45 p.m., telling everyone to drop to the floor, Zine said. One of them pointed a gun at a cashier’s head and told her to open the cash register, police and witnesses said.

But he was distracted and she ran away without giving him anything, Police Sgt. Tim Day said.

While some customers and employees remained on the floor and others slipped away, the frustrated robbers walked over to the store’s locked office and tried to enter, firing 14 shots from a 9-millimeter pistol at the door and nearby walls when they could not get in.

The two men then fled on foot, running across the parking lot and Lennox Avenue and jumping into the back of a white vehicle that was either a small pickup truck or a vehicle similar to a Chevy Blazer, witnesses and police said.

Police recovered a ski mask and a glove believed to have been discarded by the robbers, Day said.

The robbers appeared to be very nervous, said an employee, who asked not to be named. “It was real, real scary--but it was over really fast.”

Employees and a customer who works nearby said the robbery only lasted about two or three minutes and that the store was reopened about 20 minutes later. By about 3 p.m. workers were already repairing the damage caused by the bullets.

Asked about the company’s policies for dealing with armed robbers, a spokeswoman at Lucky’s Bay Area headquarters declined to comment.

“We want to protect the well-being of our employees and we will not publicize our policies in that area,” spokeswoman Judy Decker said.

Police “tell the people to cooperate with the robber and try to get a good description,” Zine said. “We tell them not to resist or challenge the robber. Don’t turn a robbery into a murder.”