Father, 23, Killed by Robber While Wife Flees With Baby

The robber grabbed Jose Torres Jr. by the neck and began dragging him away from his car while he held his 4-month-old son, police said. Torres’ wife leaped from the passenger side of the car and grabbed the baby, as Torres told her to run into their apartment building and call the police.

The sound of gunshots that police said killed her 23-year-old husband echoed through the apartment unit from where she was calling for help.

Los Angeles police detectives said Torres died Tuesday after spending the night in Northridge Hospital Medical Center’s intensive care unit. Police were searching for the man who shot him in the head and shoulder Monday night after Torres refused to give up his money.

Torres had driven his family into the parking lot of their Panorama City apartment building about 8:30 p.m. As he left the car, he was grabbed by the robber, LAPD Sgt. Joseph Brazas said. Torres told the robber he was carrying a baby, and managed to hand the child to his wife, who fled inside the three-story building, Brazas said.

The robber took Torres’ wallet, which contained no money, Brazas said. They then began to struggle, and the robber shot Torres twice, in the head and shoulder, with a semiautomatic pistol.

Torres’ wife, meanwhile, ran into the building and pounded on the doors of several units. Two boys, Steve Bustillos, 15, and Ricky Hardiman, 12, answered her pleas. As she used their phone, the youths said, they heard the gunshots and ran out with another friend.

When they arrived at the parking lot they saw the robber flee. Bustillos said the robber ducked through a tear in the chain fence by the gated lot and ran to the street. The boys then ran to Torres.

Bustillos said that while cars in the lot are occasionally broken into or vandalized, this is the first violence at the building.

“Everybody in this building tries to keep things up,” chasing off taggers and vandals, Bustillos said.