One suspect dead, one arrested in South L.A. market robbery

Police have arrested one suspect and are looking for a second in a South L.A. robbery that resulted in the death of a market owner, Carlos Alberto Martinez.

Martinez, 61, was shot and killed Sunday night around 8 p.m. when he was robbed inside Martinez Market at 6565 S. Normandie Ave.

Hector Benitez, 19, was arrested Monday. A third suspect died in a hospital nearby after the robbery, said LAPD Officer Liliana Preciado.

“When does it stop? When is enough enough? We lost a very good, a good man,” neighbor Leeland Willis told CBS. “And because of somebody else’s ignorance and stupidity, we now lost somebody that was great for this neighborhood.”

Police told NBC LA that Martinez was also armed and involved in a shootout with the robbers. Preciado could not confirm that that Martinez was armed or that he fired a weapon.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.

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One suspect dead, one arrested in South L.A. market robbery