Gunman Slain in Conflict With Theater Workers

A gunman who tried to rob two movie theater employees early Monday was shot and killed by one of the workers, who also serves as a Culver City reserve police officer, authorities said.

The gunman, who remained unidentified Monday, confronted the two employees shortly after midnight in an underground parking garage as they left the Laemmle Town Center 5 movie theaters on Ventura Boulevard, police said. Nicole Cornute, 23, of North Hills, and Adam Treanor, 25, of Woodland Hills, both assistant managers, were walking to their cars when a man asked what time the movies ended.

Cornute and Treanor told the man that the movies were over for the evening. Less than a minute later, he returned and pointed a semiautomatic handgun at them, demanding the theater’s money, police said. When the pair told the gunman they had no money, he demanded Cornute’s backpack, authorities said.

She handed it over and as he rummaged through it, Treanor--who is a reserve police officer--pulled out his gun, identified himself as an officer and told the robber to freeze, police said. The robber instead spun toward the pair and pointed his gun at them, police said.

Treanor then shot him three times in the upper body, authorities said.

Cornute called police from a telephone in the underground garage while Treanor watched over the wounded man, Los Angeles Police Detective Robert Johansen said. The man was taken to Tarzana Regional Medical Center, where he died of his injuries.

The shooting, Johansen said, appears to have been in self-defense. Police do not plan to ask prosecutors to file criminal charges against Treanor, who has been a reserve officer with the Culver City Police Department for about 18 months.

“From everything we’ve been able to determine, the suspect had a gun and he pointed it at them for quite some time,” Johansen said. The detective said the employees were not carrying the theater’s nightly receipts at the time of the shooting.

“I can’t help but think the suspect may have had some prior knowledge that maybe money drops were made in the evenings,” Johansen said.

He said investigators will use fingerprints, and possibly dental records, to identify the dead man.