Bandits Chased by Wounded Store Owner

Bleeding from a bullet wound to his upper body, the owner of a check-cashing firm chased three would-be robbers from his business before they fled in a car parked nearby, police said Wednesday.

Roger Vega, 31, was shot once during the holdup attempt when he began fighting with the bandits, police said. The three men had entered Vega’s Casa de Cambio, a strip mall business at West 19th Street and Placentia Avenue, shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Police Sgt. Mike Millington said of Vega’s giving chase to the men.

But police emphasized that they do not recommend resisting armed robbers. “We recommend that people comply with robbery demands. Your life is more important than money,” Millington said.

Vega was in stable condition in the intensive care unit of Western Medical Center-Santa Ana on Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

After fleeing the business, the would-be robbers ran a short distance south along Placentia Avenue to PK Burgers, where they jumped into an Oldsmobile Cutlass and drove away, police said. The bandits were at large Wednesday.

They were described as male Latinos of ages in the range of 17 to 21, police said.

Investigators did not know if the bandits succeeded in taking anything from Casa de Cambio, which was closed Wednesday.

Javier Herrero, Vega’s brother-in-law and an employee of the family-run business, paced in front of the business early Wednesday, telling curious customers that Casa de Cambio would open today.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Herrero, who had visited Vega in the hospital. “He said go to work, but I don’t know, it’s hard to work when you don’t know what is going to happen.”

Herrero said Vega had been in business at the location for 15 years without any trouble before. “Nothing, no problems,” he said, shaking his head.

Herrero said Vega was acting in self-defense when he fought the robbers. Herrero was at work at the time of the attack, he said but declined to describe what happened.