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Man Sought in Death of San Gabriel Supermarket Clerk

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Sheriff’s deputies are looking for the man whose robbery attempt Monday at a San Gabriel supermarket resulted in the death of a 27-year-old clerk.

Rudy Ruiz of Glendale was shot at the Lucky market in the 900 block of Las Tunas Drive when a man attempted to rob an armored car guard at about 9:25 a.m., Sheriff’s Homicide Lt. Joseph Brown said.

Ruiz, who was shot once in the upper body, died at about 3:45 p.m. at San Gabriel Community Hospital. He had worked at the store for several months, deputies said.

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The guard was dropping off cash at the store and was near the vault when the robber entered, Brown said.

The robber pulled a semiautomatic handgun from his waistband, prompting the guard to draw his gun, Brown said.

Ruiz was hit in the gunfire that followed. No one else was injured, although the gunman fired a number of rounds in the store, Brown said.

The robber then ran out of the store and escaped in an older model four-door white Ford with a maroon or faded-blue top. The armored car guard pursued him in his truck for awhile but lost him, Brown said.

The robber was believed to have been shot in the upper torso during the robbery attempt.

Nothing was taken from the store.

The suspect is described as Latino, between 40 and 50 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and of heavy build. He has gray hair and a gray mustache, deputies said. He was wearing a dark baseball cap, sunglasses or prescription glasses, and a blue shirt with red, black and white horizontal stripes.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at (213) 890-5500 or San Gabriel Police Detective Edward Hache at (818) 308-2836.

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