2 Clerks Shot, 1 Fatally, in Anaheim Robberies : Crime: Police think both holdups may have been committed by the same gunman. Customers were held hostage at one of the two stores involved.

One clerk was fatally shot for $14 and another was critically wounded early Thursday in two separate convenience-store robberies that may have been committed by the same gunman, police said.

Police on Thursday were searching for clues to the identity of the gunman and interviewing a handful of hostages who were held for as long as 20 minutes in the back room of one store.

“We got a real mess here,” Anaheim Police Capt. Stan Kantor said, adding that an “intensive investigation” had been launched.

The dead man was identified as Tarsmem Singh, 28, of Buena Park. He was pronounced dead at the scene with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. The second victim, Ashok Patel, 40, address unknown, was listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center in Orange with head trauma and a bullet wound to the chest, hospital officials said.

The two men were working overnight shifts at stores about 10 blocks from each other, police and store officials said.

Police said that just after midnight, a lone gunman, described only as a stocky man in his mid- to late 20s, stormed into a Circle K convenience store in the 100 block of West Vermont Avenue with a gun raised.

Confronting Singh, the gunman began firing shots into the ceiling and yelling orders in Spanish and English. One of the errant bullets shattered the glass door of the convenience store, sending fragments of broken glass flying.

The gunman then herded Singh and an unidentified customer into a back room, police said. What happened next is not clear, Kantor said, but at some point the gunman suddenly opened fire, striking the clerk several times while the horrified customer watched.

Singh died at the scene.

As new customers entered the store, unaware that a crime was under way, the gunman grabbed them and led them into the back room, where Singh’s body lay. At some point in the holdup, the robber took $14 from the register, store officials said.

“That is the horrendous part of this situation,” said Circle K spokeswoman Judy States. “That’s what grieves us. We lost a good employee and family member for that much money.”

Once in the back room, the hostages were searched one by one and robbed of an unspecified amount of cash and personal belongings, Kantor said. Police investigators declined to identify the hostages or say just how many were taken captive. None were injured, Kantor said.

Searching one hostage, the gunman grabbed his car keys, then bolted from the store and stole the vehicle from the parking lot as he fled. It was not known how the gunman arrived at the store; police have found no evidence that he abandoned a vehicle there.

Police arrived at the scene shortly after 12:30 a.m. Thursday, Kantor said.

Four hours later, while homicide detectives were still at the Circle K piecing together the evidence, police dispatchers received a call that a shooting had taken place at another convenience store about 10 blocks away, Kantor said.

When police arrived at Hanshaw Liquor, in the 1000 block of West Lincoln Avenue, they found the wounded clerk, identified later as Patel, lying in a pool of blood. He had been shot once in the chest and pistol-whipped on the head, Kantor said.

It appeared that a struggle had taken place before the gunman opened fire on Patel, who apparently was alone in the store at the time of the assault. It was not immediately known how much money, if any, was taken in the second robbery, Kantor said.

As doctors at UCI Medical Center worked to save Patel, his family gathered in a nearby waiting room, consoling each other and talking in whispers. They declined to comment on Patel’s condition or how long he had been working at the store.

Kantor said it appears likely that the crimes were committed by the same man. Detectives were looking at numerous similarities, including the use of a handgun by a lone bandit, the proximity of the crime scenes and the ruthlessness of the attacker.

Kantor said investigators had been on the phone since early Thursday morning with law enforcement agencies and probation and parole officials throughout the Southland. They hoped to match the method of Thursday morning’s crimes to known offenders in an effort to identify the gunman. But by Thursday night, police had not found any leads in the case.

“We don’t have any idea who he is,” Kantor said.

Coincidentally, the Hanshaw Liquor store was once the site of a Circle K, which was sold about six months ago, according to company spokeswoman States. Police did not know if there was any connection between the sale of Hanshaw Liquor and the two crimes.

States said company counselors have already contacted members of Singh’s family to console them and to help with any problems they may face.

States said Circle K Corp. is willing to offer a reward for the capture of Singh’s murderer if police believe it will advance their investigation.

“We are always open to that kind of mechanism,” she said. “If it will help, by all means we would do it. We are doing everything we can to cooperate with local authorities to find this man who committed this senseless, violent crime.”

Robbery Targets Sites of two convenience store robberies early Thursday. 1000 W. Lincoln about 4:15 a.m. 125 W. Vermont shortly after midnight