Deputies were searching for three masked assailants Monday after shots were fired during an attempted jewelry store robbery in Rowland Heights, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
"They knew we had armed security," David Lee, store owner, said. "After they take these guys out, they would be free to come into the store to take what they need."
The attempted robbery occurred in front of Hing Wa Lee Jewelers near the Canyon Point Marketplace Shopping Center.
Deputies were still scouring the area at 6 p.m. after three armed would-be robbers wearing all black tried to rob a jewelry store, but they didn't even make it inside.
The three got into a shootout with two security guards right outside the doorway, the Sheriff's Department said.
"The [security guards] risked their lives," Lee said.
A security guard was visibly hurt, but deputies couldn't confirm reports that he had fallen from a second-floor window.
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The three would-be thieves got away in a vehicle similar to a white Chevrolet Impala, shedding their masks as they fled. One was a super hero mask.
"It was the loudest boom I had ever heard," Jeff Jacobs, a witness, said.
The robbers did not get away with anything, the store owner said.
