Guard Wounded but Robbers Foiled

A trio of robbers focused a barrage of bullets on an armored van at a suburban gas station Monday morning but fled after they were unable to open the door and get to the money inside, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

One of the three guards fired upon in the Rowland Heights robbery was hit several times but was in stable condition and was expected to recover, authorities said.

The Loomis Fargo van was at a Texaco station in the 18200 block of Colima Road about 6:30 a.m. when the bandits, at least one of whom carried an assault rifle, appeared, Deputy Bob Killeen said.

Witnesses said the van’s driver was outside the vehicle refueling while the two other guards waited inside. The gunmen surprised the driver and took his gun. Another robber went into the cashier’s booth and ordered an employee onto the ground.

The robbers then crossed to the passenger side of the van and began firing into it at point-blank range, a witness said.

“They just shot into the passenger side of the truck, into the lock, the window, everywhere,” the witness said.

The guard in the passenger seat was wounded but the robbers could not open the door to get to the money inside, the witness said, so they fled in a dark car into the hillside community.

Killeen said an assault weapon was found in the bushes near the gas station, apparently thrown there by one of the fleeing robbers.