Man Shot to Death at Mall in Dispute Over Stolen Gun
Two men feuding over a stolen gun encountered each other at a West Hills shopping mall, where one shot the other to death while attempting to put him under a citizen’s arrest, police said Thursday.
Ryan Willis, 23, of Woodland Hills was shot outside the Fallbrook Mall on Wednesday night. Nicholas Todd Granger, 20, of West Hills was arrested on suspicion of murder and held in lieu of $1 million bail, police said.
LAPD Detective Rick Swanston said Granger saw Willis, an old acquaintance, at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the mall parking lot. The detective said Granger confronted Willis, accusing him of stealing a gun from Granger’s house in February and tried to put Willis under citizen’s arrest.
Witnesses told police that when Willis started to walk toward Granger, Granger shot him once in the chest. After the shooting, Granger ran into a nearby store and asked a clerk to call 911.
Granger told police he fired in self-defense. Willis was unarmed at the time, but officers said they found a machete in his car about 60 feet away.
Granger had filed a police report about the gun theft in February. “Willis allegedly struck him and took the gun,” Swanston said.
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