Officer, Alleged Robber Slain in Gun Battle

An off-duty Los Angeles County safety officer was gunned down in front of his wife Wednesday night outside a Canoga Park shoe store after trading shots with an alleged robber, police said.

The suspected robber also died in the gun battle.

Thomas Worley, 33, died from gunshot wounds to the upper right chest and the groin after he confronted the alleged robber, Jesus Valenzuela, about 6:15 p.m. in the parking lot of a Payless ShoeSource at Topanga Canyon and Roscoe boulevards, police and hospital officials said.

“The officer told him to freeze, but the suspect opened fire,” said Los Angeles Police Officer Eileen Stuart. “The officer returned fire, but was struck in the upper torso. He died.”

Los Angeles County safety officers are sworn law enforcement officers who act as armed security for county facilities and parks. Worley, assigned to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, was the 11th peace officer to be gunned down in the last year and a half in Southern California.

Police said Worley confronted Valenzuela, 45, of Canoga Park after he heard shouts that the store had been robbed. Worley, who was with his wife, had been shopping in the shoe store, police said. After hearing the shouts, Worley pursued Valenzuela into the mini-mall parking lot, investigators said.

Jessica Eskiewicz, 18, of Woodland Hills said she was walking through the parking lot and saw the shooting.

“I saw someone running out of Payless and people yelling, ‘He robbed the store!’ ” Eskiewicz said. She then heard “six or seven gunshots” and headed over to look. “They weren’t constant shots--bam-bam-bam. They were delayed shots. It seemed to last a couple of minutes.”

A man who declined to give his full name witnessed the fight from a Mobil gas station across the street from the mini-mall. “I heard about six gunshots and I thought maybe it was firecrackers or something,” he said. “I heard bam, bam, bam, and looked over and saw a couple people drop.

“We saw two people on the floor, no uniforms or anything,” the man said. “All the cops were all over him (Worley) giving CPR. The Hispanic guy, he was bleeding all over the place from the stomach.”

The man said a woman stood over the dying officer. “She was saying, ‘Please breathe, please.’ They were giving him CPR,” he said.

Off-duty Los Angeles City Firefighter Don Reyes was heading to a restaurant with his wife for dinner when he heard the gunfight. Reyes called 911 from a pay phone and then ran to the parking lot where the shooting occurred. He emptied bullets from the suspect’s gun, according to other firefighters, and began giving first aid to Worley.

Eskiewicz said she saw the suspect--later identified as Valenzuela--sitting up after the shooting. “He looked fine,” she said. “He was just sitting there and looked perfectly fine when they got him.”

Worley was rushed to Nu-Med Regional Medical Center, less than a block away from where the shooting occurred. He died at 7:20 p.m. Valenzuela was rushed to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he died in surgery at 7:17 p.m.

“He was talking and then he died fairly quickly,” Los Angeles Police Officer Michael Braun said of Valenzuela, who died from internal bleeding after a single bullet pierced his liver.

Deputy Police Chief Martin H. Pomeroy reiterated to reporters that Worley was responding to cries for help. “The suspect is dead,” he said. “Apparently the suspect had loot with him when the shooting occurred.”

Police did not disclose what was stolen from the shoe store.

When asked if Worley should have gotten involved, he responded: “I think this officer acted heroically. He involved himself in the situation, and, tragically, he was shot and injured as a result of that. I think what the officer did was a credit to himself and his organization.”

Police Sgt. Roger Ferguson confirmed that Worley was not in uniform but was allowed to carry a firearm.

Ferguson also said that Valenzuela was believed to be a gang member. Another officer said Valenzuela bore a gang tattoo.

Two shopping carts were set up to mark where the fatal shot was fired, and that area was encircled by police tape inside the larger cordoned off parking lot. The guns and shell casings were lying near the parking carts, being examined by an evidence team.

Police offered rides to shoppers and employees who were told they could not remove their cars from the parking lot. Officers walked through the aisles of parked cars, taking down license plate numbers, until they identified a gray Chevrolet Nova as the car of the suspect.

Police drove six potential eyewitnesses to the West Valley station in one cruiser.

Wes and Julie Amerman of Chatsworth drove by the two bodies lying in the parking lot without noticing them amid all the holiday traffic. “We were about to get out of the car,” Wes Amerman said. “There were people hollering and shouting out in the parking lot.

“I got out of the car and I saw the two people laying on the ground,” he said. The couple quickly left the area.

“We’re greatly saddened,” Pomeroy said. “And it’s made all the more poignant because of the season.”

Times staff writers Abigail Goldman, Jeannette Regalado, Nicholas Riccardi and Julie Tamaki and correspondent Kay Hwangbo contributed to this story.