Robbers Kill Armored Car Guard in Store

A former Pasadena police officer-turned-armored car guard was shot to death Monday during an unusual inside-the-store robbery at a San Fernando Home Depot store, reportedly just two years after he survived a similar robbery at another Home Depot on his first day on the job.

A store customer was wounded in the arm in the attack by two robbers in a store crowded with 200 customers and employees, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

A fellow armored car company employee who asked not to be identified speculated that Home Depot may have been targeted by the robbers because he said the company has a policy requiring guards to keep their guns holstered while they are in the store. Otherwise, guards carrying large bags of cash frequently have their pistols in hand, he said.

The dead guard’s sister said her brother worried about making Home Depot pickups because he thought the store frowned on his unholstering his gun.

Home Depot officials declined to comment about the shooting or answer questions about whether such a policy exists.

The dead man was identified by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office as Edwin Maldonado, 26, of Pasadena. Maldonado was hit in the upper torso and head by at least two of four shots fired inside the store and died at the scene at 12960 Foothill Blvd.

Sheriff’s investigators said his gun was in his holster.

Maldonado, an employee of Sectran Armored Transportation in Pico Rivera, was shot at 3 p.m. by one of the robbers carrying a semiautomatic handgun as the guard emerged from an office near the rear of the store with a single bag of store receipts. Sheriff’s deputies said they did not know whether there was an exchange of words before the shooting, but that the incident occurred very quickly.

Miguel Ismuro, 42, of Palmdale was hit in the upper left arm during the brief melee, apparently by a stray bullet, deputies said. Ismuro was treated and released at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, a hospital spokeswoman said.

As many as eight to 10 people were in the vicinity at the time of the shooting and as homicide investigators interviewed them late Monday evening, a sign was posted on the front door saying the store had been closed by “unforeseen conditions.”

The fellow employee said Maldonado was the driver of an armored car in a similar robbery at a Home Depot in Van Nuys on March 23, 1990--his first day on the job after a two-week training course. In that incident, a guard was shot in the hand by two robbers who followed him into the store.

As in Monday’s robbery, the attackers then fled out an emergency exit, taking $3,600. No one was ever charged in that incident.

Sheriff’s investigators on Monday refused to say how much money was taken in the latest robbery.

While robberies of armored car guards have increased in recent years, most occur in the parking lot outside stores, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officials.

Monday’s robbery “appears to be similar” to the earlier incident, Sheriff’s Lt. Thomas Johnston said. He said it would be “sheer speculation” to suggest the same robbers were involved in the Monday attack, but added that “we’re going to look into all the possibilities.”

The Sectran source said Home Depot has a policy preventing the company’s couriers from carrying their weapons in their hands while making deliveries or picking up money.

“In other places, we pull our gun whenever we think it is necessary,” said the employee. “When I walk into a store with my weapon out, people get out of the way. You carry it at your side. The pistol is not cocked. But it is a safety measure you need most in crowded stores,” such as Home Depot.

The policy “has made stops at Home Depot very dangerous,” he said. “My buddy just got killed. I don’t think it had to happen.”

Griselda Maldonado-Fogel, the dead man’s sister, said he was a Pasadena police officer for less than a year before becoming an armored car guard.

He had told his family that he wished he could carry his pistol in his hand at Home Depot, she said.

“It was something that he wanted to do, but it was something Home Depot did not encourage,” she said. “I don’t know if it was a matter of policy but they discouraged it.”

Sometimes, she said, “he took the gun out, regardless.”

Home Depot officials refused to come out of the store to talk to reporters. Calls to the store were answered by security personnel, who refused comment.

Sheriff’s investigators said they were unaware of any Home Depot policy preventing armored car guards from carrying their weapons in their hands.

The suspects were identified as male blacks in their 20s. Although the crime occurred in San Fernando, the Sheriff’s Department has an agreement with the city to help out in homicide investigations.