Dramatic video has captured the moment would-be robbers opened fire on a security guard at a Los Angeles smoke shop, leaving one of the alleged assailants dead.
Four men can be seen entering the store in South Wilmington Avenue, Compton, at 6.54pm on Tuesday, as one draws a handgun and points it at the guard, in footage released by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
When the guard pulls his own weapon, the alleged attempted robber starts firing wildly, appearing to strike the store worker in the face, who falls to the ground as he returns fire.
The four suspects continue to fire at the store guard while taking cover behind shelving in the middle of the store.
They then fled the scene.
The employee was rushed to hospital suffering gunshot wounds to his face and neck, and was later released.
According to the LA County Sheriff’s Office, about 30 minutes after the botched robbery, deputies were called to Martin Luther King Hospital after a gunshot victim turned up.
“Investigators discovered the gunshot victim was one of the ‘Smoke Shop’ robbers whom the store employee had shot,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
A second suspect was arrested on Wednesday, but two others remain at large.
They have been named by officials as Kahlel Malik Lundy, 23, and Keith Terrion Rachel, 21.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.
