2 Workers Injured in Restaurant Robbery

Two employees of a McDonald’s restaurant in Acton were injured, including a woman who was hit by ricocheting shotgun pellets, during a robbery by four masked bandits early Monday, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies reported.

Detective Sgt. Jerry Wolf said the four gunmen were particularly brutal in the “takeover” robbery that occurred at 12:35 a.m., after the fast-food restaurant in the 3700 block of Sierra Highway had closed. Both employees, whose names were not released, were treated at the scene by paramedics.

The robbery took place when two employees stepped outside to empty trash cans and were immediately accosted by the gunmen. The gunmen hid, but forced the employees to push a buzzer outside the door. When it was opened from inside, the robbers rushed in.

Five employees were forced to the floor by the robbers. One, a 20-year-old man, was hit on the back of the head and injured with what might have been a gun, deputies said.

“It was a show of force,” Wolf said. “He was complying with their orders, but they hit him.”

A 30-year-old woman was then forced to open the safe and the robbers took about $1,000, Wolf said. But none of the employees had a key for an inner safe where more money was stored. Wolf said one of the robbers fired a shotgun at the lock, apparently hoping to blast it open. The door did not budge, but pellets from the blast ricocheted and hit the female employee in the right arm.

Before leaving, the robbers handcuffed the five employees to a pipe leading to a sink in the kitchen. After they were gone, one woman was able to slip out of the handcuffs and reach a key to the cuffs that the robbers had left behind.

Deputies said the robbers escaped in a four-door Honda Civic that is either tan or bronze in color with chrome wheel rims. Wolf declined to say if investigators believe that the four men have been involved in any previous robberies.