$15,000 Offered in Slaying of Torrance Mall Employee : Crime: Police, who may beef up security at Del Amo Fashion Center, say they had considered adding officers before last month’s shooting.

Torrance police have offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot to death a Del Amo Fashion Center arcade employee during a robbery last month.

Police also may step up patrols at the mall, but Chief Joseph C. De Ladurantey denied Wednesday that the possible move is in response to the March 7 murder of Michael Ellis, 21, a Long Beach resident.

De Ladurantey said his department was exploring the possibility of assigning at least two more officers to join five officers already at the behemoth mall, the second-largest in the United States. The rotating shift means at least two are on patrol at all times, he said.

The Torrance Company, which operates the mall, would share the cost, but the details probably will not be worked out for another few weeks, De Ladurantey said. Because the mall is considered private property, the arrangement would require City Council approval, he said.

The move is under study “not necessarily” as a result of Ellis’ murder, the chief said, but because forecasts of economic recovery will mean larger crowds at the mall. About 50,000 people visit the mall every day, he said.

Ellis, assistant manager of the popular Aladdin’s Castle video arcade, was shot to death between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. as he prepared to open the arcade. Police said he was shot during a robbery, but they declined to say what was stolen. His assailant may have been hiding in a nearby service hallway, they said.

Although investigators do not have any prime suspects, “we do feel there are people who have information but have not stepped forward,” De Ladurantey said.

Merchants have complained that security at the mall is inadequate. De Ladurantey said the department has maintained a substation in the mall, but that crime generally has not been a problem at Del Amo.

“This particular crime bothers us. It bothers us a lot. But overall crime there is very low,” he said.

A spokesman for The Torrance Company did not return phone calls.

Aladdin’s Castle contributed $5,000 toward the reward, and the remainder was put up by an anonymous donor in the name of Ellis’ former fiancee, Virginia Blanca. She could not be reached for comment.

Family members said the two had been in a relationship for about six or seven months, and had been engaged for about a month. They never set a wedding date and broke off the relationship about two weeks before Ellis was killed, his brothers said Thursday after a police news conference announcing the reward.

Ellis was saving money to resume classes at Long Beach City College and then seek a business degree at a four-year university, family members said. Ellis “always thought it was safe going to work” at the mall, said a brother, Jeff Ellis, 17.

With the reward, “hopefully they’ll get some leads,” said another brother, Mark Ellis, 18.

Michael Ellis was the second Del Amo worker killed at the mall in just over two years. Usher Donald Hernandez, a 19-year-old newlywed, was shot to death in a January, 1991, robbery at one of the mall’s two theater complexes.

Anyone with information may call Torrance police at (310) 618-5570; (310) 618-5737 on nights and weekends.