SANTA ANA : Lot Attendant Hurt in Apparent Robbery

A parking lot attendant was critically injured Monday when an apparent robber struck him on the head with a blunt instrument, police said.

Hares Ahmadzai, 19, of Irvine was found with a severe cut on the head shortly before 10:30 a.m. by a manager of Diamond Parking Inc. at 830 N. Parton St., Police Lt. Robert Helton said.

Paramedics took Ahmadzai to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he was listed in critical condition.

Initial reports from passersby were that a gunshot had been fired, but a hospital X-ray revealed that Ahmadzai had not been shot. Helton said the tests showed that the victim had been struck on the left side of the head with a blunt object.

“We don’t have any explanation for what people said sounded like a gunshot,” Helton said, adding that no information was immediately available on what type of blunt object may have been used.

Helton said investigators determined that robbery was the motive for the assault. Ahmadzai’s car keys and an undetermined amount of cash may have been taken, he said.

Police are looking for a man seen leaving the parking lot at the time of the attack. He is described as 25 years old, 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 165 pounds, Helton said.

Daniel Garcelon, the Santa Ana manager for Diamond Parking Inc., said Ahmadzai muttered, “I think I’ve been shot,” and passed out. He said the attack was the first on an attendant at the lot.

“If you operate a business with cash on the premises, then something like this is bound to happen,” Garcelon said.

He added that the area just north of Parton Street has had problems with drug trafficking. Garcelon speculated that Ahmadzai’s attacker may have been a drug addict trying to steal money to feed a habit.

“The scale of the drug problem in that area is huge,” he said. “If you pause, then someone will try to sell you drugs.”