Bank Victim Was Targeted, Police Say : Crime: A former security guard had studied the slain man’s banking habits, officers say. The ex-guard and his brother have been arrested.

A businessman killed during a robbery outside a Westchester bank was the victim of a setup by a man recently fired as a security guard at the bank who had seen the victim routinely withdraw large amounts of cash, police said this week.

The police allege that Oliver Thomas Jr., 25, had been studying the banking habits of the victim, Donald Lee, 55, who owned a Hawthorne check-cashing business.

Thomas then passed the information on to his brother, 19-year-old Kevin Thomas, and another man, 24-year-old Damon Lamont Walker, and the three participated in a robbery in which an amount of cash “less than $100,000” was stolen from Lee, said Lt. Ross Moen of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Division.

The robbery occurred about 9 a.m. Friday outside a Wells Fargo bank branch at 8949 S. Sepulveda Blvd., near Westchester Parkway, and resulted in a shootout that left Lee mortally wounded, Moen said.

“We believe that not only was (Lee) set up and the robbery planned by Oliver Thomas, but that Oliver Thomas pointed out the victim, following which his brother Kevin confronted him and attempted to rob him,” said Moen, head of detectives at the division.

According to police, the Thomas brothers, both South Los Angeles residents, ambushed Lee in an alley next to the bank as Lee was leaving. With Oliver Thomas acting as lookout, Kevin Thomas pulled a gun on Lee, police said. Lee drew his handgun, and the two fired shots at each other, police said. Walker acted as the driver of the getaway car, Moen said.

Lee was shot several times in the upper body and was pronounced dead on arrival at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital. Kevin Thomas was shot in the left arm and was arrested Friday afternoon after he sought medical attention at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Inglewood, Moen said.

Hospital workers are required to alert police to anyone seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.

After arresting Kevin Thomas, authorities found that his brother had worked at the bank as a security guard until Nov. 1, when he was fired for undisclosed reasons, Moen said. Later that day, police arrested Oliver Thomas and Walker.

All three suspects were arraigned Tuesday in West Los Angeles Municipal Court on one count each of murder, robbery and robbery with special circumstances, which could qualify them for the death penalty, Moen said.

Lee was a popular customer who had been coming to the bank branch for years, said bank spokeswoman Kathleen Shilkret. His death, she said, devastated many of the bank’s employees who had gotten to know him personally.

“It is really unfortunate that it happened this way,” Shilkret said. “It is not what you sign up for when you sign up for a security service, needless to say.”

Bank officials stressed that Oliver Thomas was not a bank employee, but he had worked for a private firm, Pedus Security Services, that had a contract to provide guards for the bank.

John Vandevelde, a lawyer for the security company, confirmed that Thomas had worked at the bank as a security guard, but said that he worked there for only 11 days and had been fired one week before the robbery “for reasons that had nothing to do with this robbery-shooting incident.”

Not all of the money was recovered, but police would not say how much was missing.