Van Nuys Store Robbery Suspect Killed in Crash After Carjacking

A young man fleeing from the robbery of a Van Nuys grocery hijacked a car at a railroad crossing Thursday, then crashed the stolen auto into a power pole and was killed, Los Angeles police reported.

Thursday’s takeover was the second fatal carjacking so far this month in the San Fernando Valley and one of at least six such takeovers reported in the Los Angeles area this month--including another carjacking Thursday in which an off-duty police officer shot and wounded a suspect in South-Central Los Angeles.

The man killed in Van Nuys struck a power pole on Roscoe Boulevard at Woodley Place at 70 to 80 m.p.h., Detective Anthony Bartolotto said.

“There was no pursuit at that time,” Officer Carl Helm said. “These guys must have thought they were being followed and smashed the getaway car.”

The dead man, who police estimated was in his early 20s, had not been identified as of late Thursday, the coroner’s office said.

He was believed to be one of four young men who entered the Louise Produce grocery store at 8242 Louise Ave., stabbed the owner, and stole cash and beer, police said.

Frank Cuva, owner of Forever Young Private Fitness, located next door to the Korean grocery store, said he saw the youths flee the market after the robbery. “They were so young that they didn’t look like they would do anything,” Cuva said.

The store’s owner, whose name was not released, suffered a cut to his right hand and a cut to the neck, Cuva said.

The four robbers drove east on Roscoe Boulevard in a brown Monte Carlo. When they approached a railroad crossing near Hayvenhurst Avenue, one man got out of their car and broke the window of a Honda Civic that was stopped at the crossing waiting for a train, police said.

The surprised motorist, identified as David Karianjahi, 36, of Van Nuys, thought the man was carrying a knife or gun and fled on foot, police said. “The man was scared for his life. He was afraid he would get shot in the back,” Officer John Futrell said.

Karianjahi, who was not hurt, flagged down a passing patrol car minutes later.

Officers said both cars continued east on Roscoe until the stolen car went out of control on the wet street and crashed into the power pole.

Just minutes before the fatal carjack, in a separate incident, an off-duty Los Angeles police officer shot and critically injured a gunman during an alleged carjack about 4:50 p.m. at 113th and Flower streets in South-Central Los Angeles, LAPD Officer Sharyn Michelson said. The suspect was listed in critical condition at a hospital Thursday night.

The officer, who works out of the department’s Southeast Station and whose name was not released, spotted the carjacking as he drove home from work and later shot the suspect when the man pointed a gun at the officer, Michelson said.

On March 15, a gunman killed Naghi Ghoraishy, 74, and then fled in his Mercedes following a carjacking at a gas station near Ghoraishy’s Chatsworth home.

In Canoga Park on March 11, a 14-year-old boy allegedly carjacking an auto pushed Esther Keely, an elderly passenger, into the street, breaking her jaw, hip and nose.

On Wednesday, police arrested a 24-year-old man who allegedly carjacked a Mercedes from a Northridge intersection and later crashed the car.

And in South-Central Los Angeles on March 16, Emmett Barney, 22, his 19-year-old wife, Mignon Taylor, and their 2-year-old son were wounded by gunfire, during an attempted carjacking.

The spate of carjackings brought a call from Gov. Pete Wilson for a crackdown through pending state legislation that would classify carjacking as a violent crime and impose stiffer penalties. Although a federal anti-carjacking law went into effect five months ago, the state law is needed because carjackings do not always meet the specific circumstances needed to invoke the federal statute, Wilson said.