Guard Slain by Robber in Front of Employees

An armored truck guard was shot to death by a robber Monday in front of employees at an Anaheim catering truck company.

The Brinks guard was in a hallway when a gunman confronted him and fired once, striking him in the head, police said. The 29-year-old guard died at the scene.

The gunman fled from Orange County Food Services in the 3000 block of East Mira Loma Avenue and was at large Monday night.

Anaheim Police Sgt. Mike Hidalgo said investigators had not determined how much money was taken. “We’re still trying to piece it together,” he said.

Witnesses said the robbery occurred at 1:20 p.m. just outside the company’s “money room,” where catering truck drivers pick up change for the morning run and bring back proceeds at the end of the shift for safekeeping.

“We don’t know if he was followed, if the robbers did their homework and knew there was a drop-off or if [the shooter] was inside waiting for him,” Hidalgo said.

“I don’t think this was a chance robbery. Whoever did this had either watched the truck, planned for it, or it’s possible maybe they had knowledge from the inside.”

The guard’s partner--the armored truck driver--had stayed in the vehicle and was not hurt, Hidalgo said.

Witnesses who saw the fleeing gunman described him as white, in his 40s, about 6 feet tall, weighing 180 to 200 pounds, clean shaven and wearing a tan windbreaker-type jacket, khaki pants and a white cap. They said they did not know how the man got into the building, which has only one entrance that is staffed by a receptionist.

Cora Williams, an accountant for the company, said, “I heard the gunshot. Everybody was panicking, calling 911, running back and forth. I froze. It was so scary.”

She and other employees said they knew the guard, who arrived about the same time every day.

“I just know him because he greeted everybody,” she said. “He was friendly to everybody, and we liked him very much.”

Susan Karagines-Duval, a manager at the company, said the guard “had a smile from here to here. My thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

John Miner, an independent contractor who supervises 18 catering trucks, arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting to find employees distressed and shaken. “They’re all hanging their heads,” he said. “Everybody’s pretty sad about it.”

Though FBI statistics show that armored truck robberies in Southern California have declined over the last decade--falling from 22 in 1993 to eight in 1999--Monday’s attack was one of half a dozen in the last 18 months.

In August 2000, a shopper was killed in a Costco parking lot in Van Nuys when robbers opened fire on an armored truck guard. Last December, a security guard was wounded during an attempted robbery of an armored truck in South-Central Los Angeles. That same month, an armored truck driver was shot to death in a holdup in West Hollywood. Earlier this year, robbers fatally shot a Brinks guard as he delivered money to a cash machine at an Albertson’s supermarket in the San Fernando Valley.