Ralphs President Blasts Attack at Store

The president of the Ralphs supermarket chain on Monday praised three employees who tried to fight off an attack by what police call a skinhead gang and condemned the incident as an “outrage” that must be prosecuted.

Al Marasca, the president of Ralphs Grocery Co., said his employees acted courageously as they attempted to defend themselves from six males who reportedly walked into the store in the middle of the night and started a fight. Two other employees who rushed to help were also beaten, according to police.

“It sounds like [the attackers] were just looking for trouble,” said Marasca from the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. “This is out of the question and cannot be tolerated.”

Although police said the attack involved skinheads, who have a reputation for neo-Nazi inclinations, they have not found evidence that race or ethnic hatred was a motive. Instead, the attack appears to be random violence, said Lt. Fred Lisanti of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

“We really have no explanation for the attack at this time,” Lisanti said.

Two of the victims are white, including the man most seriously hurt, and the third is a Latino, Lisanti said. Their names were not released by police or Ralphs for their own protection, he said.

Marasca said the attackers entered the market at 3 a.m. Sunday, confronted a 37-year-old employee and assaulted him. The man was punched and kicked with steel-toed boots and suffered a broken nose, broken ribs, a black eye and numerous cuts and bruises, Lisanti said.

Two other employees, ages 31 and 46, who helped the employee were also beaten and hurt, but managed to delay the suspects “to enable police to arrest them,” Marasca said. The six suspects, including three juveniles and an adult who recently graduated from Dana Hills High School, were arrested as they tried to drive away from the market in their van.

The store employees are already back at work, he said.

The suspects being held at Orange County Jail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon are Victor Romero, 23, of Anaheim; Joshua Aardema, 18, of Laguna Niguel; and Travis Miskan, 18, of Murietta. Three juveniles--two 16-year-olds from Long Beach and Temecula and a 17-year-old from Murietta--also were arrested and are in custody at Orange County Juvenile Hall.

All were charged with assault with a deadly weapon because they were kicking the victims with the intention to seriously hurt them, Lisanti said.

Aardema graduated from Dana Hills High School last June and Miskan is a former South County resident, according to Chris Devenney, Aardema’s roommate. Devenney said neither Aardema nor Miskan are skinheads, as they were described by police.

City officials also condemned the attack, which they said was rare in this small coastal town.

“It doesn’t appear to be racist, just some people who are completely out of control,” said Mayor Karen Lloreda, who was briefed on the attack Monday morning by interim City Manager Dayle Keller. “They have lost touch with their humanity, clearly.”

Lloreda said it was particularly disturbing that one of the alleged attackers was a former local student.

“We believe it is an isolated occurrence, but it’s always scary when something like this happens in your town,” Lloreda said. “I’m not accustomed to this kind of violence.”