Gunmen Kill Store Clerk in Ventura, Wound 2

Two masked gunmen fatally shot a grocery clerk and injured two store owners during a robbery attempt Friday afternoon at a neighborhood market on the city’s west end.

The gunmen entered Central Market in the 500 block of North Ventura Avenue at about 1 p.m., confronted the three workers near a cash register and demanded money, police said. Before the victims had a chance to respond both gunmen opened fire.

“I heard the guy say, ‘Give me the money,’ and then they shot really quickly five times,” butcher Javier Torres said.

Torres and a beer vendor led several women and children to the back of the store for protection. The vendor, who asked not to be identified, said he heard two quick shots, followed by three or four more shots.

“These guys didn’t have a chance,” the vendor said of the victims. “[The gunmen] didn’t give them a chance. They just started shooting.”

Witnesses said the gunmen hopped into a gray car at Center Street and Ventura Avenue and sped away. Police said they didn’t take any money.

Across the street from the market, Ray Reyes, owner of Ray’s Avenue Auto Parts, said he heard three shots and saw the clerk stagger a few feet from the store, drop to his knees and collapse in the parking lot.

“I could see the blood on the back of his shirt, like the bullet went right through him,” he said.

Alejandro Alvarez, 35, a father of two young daughters, was shot multiple times, police said. He died at the scene. An autopsy is scheduled for this morning.

Ventura Fire Capt. Mike Vaughan, who was among the first emergency personnel to arrive, found Alvarez face down on the sidewalk.

“He was unconscious and didn’t have a pulse,” said Vaughan, who works at a station a few blocks away. “He had a through-and-through shot in the torso. We did CPR, but he never came around.”

Vaughan moved quickly into the store and found a second victim, also shot in the torso, lying on his back. He was alert and conscious. A third victim sustained gunshot wounds to his arm or hand.

They were identified as Mohan and Balbir Singh, brothers who co-own the market. Both were hospitalized at Ventura County Medical Center.

Mohan Singh, 42, was listed in critical condition Friday evening. Balbir Singh, 44, was treated in the emergency room and released, according to a nursing supervisor.

Business associate Surinder Sunner said the brothers bought the business about a year and a half ago. They previously lived in New York.

Standing outside the market Friday afternoon, Sunner said it appeared Mohan Singh might have thought the holdup was a joke.

“One of our vendors was in the store at the time,” Sunner said. “He said the robber walked in with a mask on his face and said ‘Give me all your money.’ Mohan was smiling, thinking maybe he was joking. And [the robber] didn’t give him the chance to do anything. He just started shooting.”

Weeping family members and store customers gathered in front of the market shortly after the shooting as authorities cordoned off the area with yellow tape.

Blood lay in pools inside and outside the market. Alvarez’s body, covered by a plastic tarp, lay at the entrance next to the toy and bubble gum machines.

“The people who did this do not have hearts,” said Alvarez’s uncle, Octavio Alvarez. “We are all hurting. We all loved him very much.”

Alvarez’s wife, Maritza, along with a few of his eight brothers and sisters, huddled across the street. When Senior Deputy Coroner’s Investigator Mitch Breese confirmed that Alvarez had been killed, older sister Elvia Alvarez burst into tears.

“He was a good brother, a good friend and a good parent.”

Alvarez had moved to Ventura about 11 years ago, and had worked as a ranch hand before starting at the market a little over a year ago, family members said. He lived near Ventura Avenue with his wife and their two daughters, ages 10 and 13.

“Those poor girls don’t have a father now,” said Octavio Alvarez.

Gerardo Jurado, 18, said his uncle liked to play soccer and spend time with his extended family, most of whom lived in Ventura.

“He was so sweet,” said Rosie Huerta, a Ventura resident who shopped at the market every day. “Sometimes we didn’t have enough money to pay him and he would help us.”

Ventura resident Lucy Gonzalez, 32, picked up some beef and cilantro about 15 minutes before Friday’s shooting. She said Alvarez joked with her, asking if she would be back later for some beer.

“I said maybe after work for my husband, it’s Friday,” she recalled, then started to cry. “I can’t believe it. Fifteen minutes--I’ll never see him anymore.”

As of Friday evening, Ventura police had no suspects in custody. Authorities confirmed that they seized a tape from a security camera inside the market.

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Times photographer Steve Osman and staff writers Matt Surman, Margaret Talev, David Kelly, Timothy Hughes and Tina Dirmann contributed to this story.