2 Die in O.C. Shootout at Mini-Mall : Crime: Gunfire erupts during holdup attempt at busy shopping center. Jewelry shop owner, robbery suspect are killed.

SANTA ANA — A jewelry store owner and a robbery suspect fought to their deaths Monday when a brazen holdup attempt at a bustling strip mall erupted with gunfire in what police characterized as a “major shootout.”

Robert Fernandez, 32, clung to life long enough to be cradled by his sobbing father, Secundino Fernandez, 66, moments before an ambulance arrived to take him to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana. He was dead on arrival.

Police said four robbers entered Topaz Jewelry & Gifts, 208-A N. Grand Ave., and apparently confronted Fernandez about 3:45 p.m. One robber, a 23-year-old man whom police did not identify, was killed in the gun battle and another may have been wounded. But that robber escaped on foot with the others, apparently without taking anything.

Both of the dead men had been hit several times by bullets in what witnesses described as a rapid burst of gunfire, Santa Ana Police Lt. Robert Helton said. The small shop, which bought and sold jewelry but also sold guns and cashed checks, was riddled with bullet holes.

“This was a major shootout,” Helton said. “I can’t tell you how many rounds were fired, but there were several.”

Although some of the jewelry was disturbed, nothing seemed to be missing from the store, Helton said. Several weapons were recovered, but since the store sells rifles and handguns, it was not immediately clear which guns were used in the shootout, Helton said.

“It appears that the robbery was thwarted before it got far along,” Helton said.

Helton said four robbers arrived at the shopping center in a stolen 1988 gold Mercury Topaz and entered the shop, where Robert Fernandez, shop owner, and his father were working. Minutes later, the gunfire began.

“We don’t know the essence of the conversation. We don’t know how many of the suspects were armed. The best we know is that the shooting quickly took place,” Helton said. The small shop has a front room with display cases and a rear area, were the bodies were found.

Immediately afterward, three men ran from the store and headed south on Grand Avenue before turning west on 2nd Street, leaving their car parked in front of a barber shop next door to the jewelry shop.

“We believe a second suspect might have been injured. A witness said he was holding his side when he left the scene,” said Helton, adding that all hospitals in the area had been alerted.

Kevin Nguyen, manager of a check-cashing store at the north end of the mall, said he heard the shots.

“I heard several gunshots and then the police sirens,” Nguyen said, adding that he did not go outside his protected glass area to look.

Considering the amount of gunfire at the location--a bustling downtown strip mall near 1st Street, across Grand Avenue from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and just yards from a Department of Motor Vehicles office--Helton said more people could have been killed.

“This is a very busy shopping center that always has a lot of activity at a real busy intersection,” Helton said. “We are probably really lucky no one was hit out on the street.”

At least 15 police officers scoured the mall and stolen car for clues and interviewed witnesses for several hours, while other officers searched the surrounding neighborhood, Helton said.

As Fernandez family members arrived at the pawn shop, cordoned off with fluttering yellow tape, they formed a small knot outside the bullet-riddled windows.

Sonia Fernandez, 18, the youngest of eight siblings, said her brother had started his business from a suitcase, and “would sell to friends and people that trusted him.” Slowly his business grew, she said, and three years ago he opened the small shop.

Robert Fernandez had graduated from Santa Ana High School, family members said, and had worked in construction and other jobs around Orange County before starting his business. He had been married eight years and had two girls and a newborn boy.

“Everybody that knows him knows he’s the nicest guy,” his brother Ralph said. “I have no idea what went on or what happened.”

Robert Fernandez was outgoing and helped the area’s homeless, sometimes giving them money for food, Sonia Fernandez said. “He always took care of everybody regardless if someone did something (for) him or not,” she said.

Helton said the suspect’s car had been reported stolen in Los Angeles “sometime in the last day or so.” He said the men who stole it are considered armed and dangerous.

“Evidently they were involved in another violent crime of some kind,” Helton said.

Times correspondent Willson Cummer contributed to this story.