Botched Robbery Leads to 1 Injury, Carjacking

One of two men who fled after a failed attempt to hold up a market was seriously injured Saturday when their car flipped over, police said. The second man commandeered a passing car and escaped.

Guillermo Nunez, 25, of Norwalk was taken to Memorial Medical Center of Long Beach, where he was in very critical condition with a serious head injury, said Tom Finley, a spokesman for the Westminster Police Department.

The incident began about 6:30 p.m. when Nunez and a companion tried to rob the Max Foods market in the 15000 block of Goldenwest Street, Finley said. The men fled before taking anything, however, driving their car north on the San Diego Freeway to Valley View Street, where it overturned.

Nunez was pinned in the car, police said, but his companion--whose identity has not yet been released--commandeered a car that had stopped at a nearby call box to report the accident. Holding a man, woman and young child at gunpoint, he forced them to drive to Arizona Street and Hospital Circle, the location of a hospital that closed about two years ago.

“We’re thinking he thought it was still there,” Finley said.

Finding no hospital, the would-be robber fled on foot. Police were still looking for him Sunday night. Nunez, meanwhile, was charged with attempted robbery, Finley said.