Laguna Shop Owner’s Death Ends Crime Spree : Violence: Husband wounded by ice cream robber suspected of three other stickups within an hour.

A three-city crime spree ended in murder when a robber gunned down two popular Laguna Beach merchants in their downtown ice cream parlor, police said, prompting a manhunt Tuesday and shaking the sense of safety in this scenic coastal village.

The gunman, described as a heavily tattooed man, fatally shot Simindokht Roshdieh, 53, and seriously wounded her 62-year-old husband, Firooz Roshdieh, after they refused Monday night to hand over money from the Baskin-Robbins store they own, police said.

The woman was shot once in the neck and pronounced dead at South Coast Medical Center, where her husband was recovering from a shoulder wound Tuesday.

“That’s the first time I’ve seen, in 27 years here, a robbery homicide,” Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. said.

The slaying apparently followed robberies by the same man at two businesses in Costa Mesa and one in Tustin, where another Baskin-Robbins store was struck. But the only shots were fired in the Laguna Beach store, at 247 Broadway in the heart of downtown, one block inland from Main Beach and Coast Highway.

Police believe that all four robberies are connected, and the ice cream chain is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the robber’s capture and conviction.

The Laguna Beach City Council Tuesday night also offered a $5,000 reward.

Investigators said they were alerted to the shooting when a terrified 16-year-old female employee of the Laguna Beach shop telephoned from the back of the store, screaming, “We’re having an emergency! Get in here! Get here!”

Police released a tape of two 911 emergency calls placed moments apart by the girl, who was off duty and changing clothes when the gunman entered the store.

During the second call, the girl--who survived unharmed and is not being identified by police--yelled, “9-1-1!” As she wailed, a dispatcher unsuccessfully tried to glean basic details.

It was the first killing in downtown Laguna Beach in recent memory, and boosted support among upset downtown merchants for Councilman Steve Dicterow’s funding request to hire five more police officers for the community of 24,000 people.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that visible officers are a high deterrent to crime,” Purcell said.

A community best known for artists, surfers and tourists was stunned by a cold crime that, until now, many residents thought happened only in other cities. Some said Laguna Beach is rapidly changing, and they no longer feel safe walking the streets at night.

At the City Council meeting Tuesday, Dicterow remembered talking to Simindokht Roshdieh when he stopped for ice cream while campaigning for office.

“She said to me: ‘Please get more police officers; the merchants are terrified,’ ” Dicterow said. “I think last night it came home to us.”

Jane Costello, owner of Leap of Faith Cafe on Coast Highway, said, “That incident last night, that was probably our worst fear come true.”

Beverly Baron, who lives in an apartment above the Baskin-Robbins, said Laguna Beach “is not the nice little town it used to be. I didn’t lock my car, I didn’t lock my door, nothing. Now it’s a whole different ball game. I don’t think the mind-set in this town is capable of handling this sort of thing.”

Resident Mike Phillips said that, for him, the massive firestorm that devastated Laguna in October, 1993, and last month’s damaging storms are somehow easier to take than the shootings downtown.

“I can handle the natural disasters, the floods, the fire,” he said. “This is something entirely different. You can’t kid yourself that you live in a cocoon and you’re always going to be protected from the outside world. But it sure comes as a shock when something like this happens.”

But Manny Perez, 20, an employee of T.J. Cinnamon’s Bakery near Baskin-Robbins, believes the shootings were an aberration.

“I think this is a real nice town, the safest town I know of around here,” he said. “That’s why I live here.”

In the downtown business community Tuesday, merchants and residents were upset and deeply saddened by the death of a woman whom they described as hard working and unfailingly cheerful.

Firooz and Simindokht Roshdieh were an outgoing couple who were well known and beloved by customers and merchants in Laguna Beach and by neighbors in their Aliso Viejo neighborhood.

“Last night I was crying,” said Venicia Lerma, 30, who sells ice cream at another shop in town. “It’s not fair.”

Rochelle Chacon, 26, a waitress at the Romeo Cucina restaurant on the other side of Baskin-Robbins, said they were “really sweet people, always very cheery, always upbeat.”

Relying on accounts given by Firooz Roshdieh and the off-duty employee who was hiding in the back of the store during the holdup, police described the killer as a light-skinned Latino, 19 to 23 years old, 150 pounds, 5-feet 7-inches tall, with very bushy eyebrows.

He was wearing a long dark trench coat, khaki pants and blue Nike tennis shoes with a white stripe.

There were no customers in the store at closing time when the lone gunman walked in and demanded money, according to Laguna Beach Police Lt. Danell M. Adams.

Adams said the gunman had teardrop tattoos under his eyes, and Old English-style calligraphy tattoos along the sides and across the back of his neck, which he apparently tried to conceal with a tan scarf.

Based on the description of the tattoos, “the natural assumption is that there’s a possible gang affiliation,” Adams said.

When the man entered the ice cream parlor and demanded money, Firooz Roshdieh, “verbally resisted the suspect,” Adams said. “At this point, his wife turned, possibly to walk toward the phone. At that point she was shot. Mr. Roshdieh went after the suspect with the handle of a mop, swinging at the suspect, when he was shot. Their resistance is what may have resulted in the shooting.”

Investigators believe the robbery-homicide in Laguna Beach was the final incident in a crime spree.

Adams said “it appears there is a correlation” involving four armed robberies by a lone gunman of similar description within an hour. They included Conroy’s Flowers at 2983 Harbor Blvd. in Costa Mesa at 8:38 p.m.; Blockbuster Music at 2280 Harbor Blvd. at 8:47 p.m.; Baskin-Robbins at 13032 Newport Ave., in Tustin just after 9 p.m.; and the Baskin-Robbins in Laguna Beach at 9:35 p.m.

No one was injured in the first three robberies, authorities said.

The robber got $140 from Conroy’s and $300 from Blockbuster, according to Costa Mesa Capt. Tom Lazar. The bandit in Costa Mesa “could be the same person” who committed the robberies in Tustin and Laguna Beach, he added.

In Tustin, “an individual came in and pointed a 9-millimeter (handgun) in the face of a clerk,” according to Lt. Walt Wedemeyer. The robber fled on foot with about $200.

A security camera videotape of the robbery in Tustin was given to Laguna Beach police Tuesday and was expected to be shown to witnesses.

Laguna Beach Sgt. Lance Ishmael said the video was helpful. Police did not release it and they were working on a composite sketch of the suspect.

“We have a description of a suspect and we have a video of a suspect in the Tustin robbery, and we think he is one and the same person,” Ishmael said.

“We’re upset and saddened about what happened at our Laguna Beach store last night,” said Lisa van Velthuyzen, manager of corporate communications for Baskin-Robbins, based in Glendale. “We are cooperating with police in trying to catch the person who committed this terrible crime.”

Van Velthuyzen said the company is offering a $10,000 reward for the robber’s capture and conviction.

“This is very unusual for this community, very upsetting to the community,” said Adams, leaving everyone “a little tense. It’s a real delicate situation. This community is not accustomed to this magnitude of incident.”

An autopsy was being performed Tuesday on Simindokht Roshdieh.

Adams said Firooz Roshdieh was “doing well,” Adams said. “He was conscious and speaking with investigators at the hospital last night.”

Times staff writer Leslie Berkman and correspondent Jeff Bean contributed to this report.

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Deadly Crime Spree

Within one hour Monday night, police believe, a lone gunman robbed four Orange County businesses, killing one person and netting more than $600. Where the robberies occurred:

1. Conroy’s Flowers

Time: 8:38 p.m.

Taken: $140

2. Blockbuster Music

Time: 8:47 p.m.

Taken: $300

3. Baskin-Robbins

Time: Just after 9 p.m.

Taken: $200

4. Baskin-Robbins

Time: 9:35 p.m.

Taken: No money taken; one shop owner killed, another wounded

Source: Times reports