A good Samaritan was shot and killed and a clerk was wounded when gunfire erupted during a "grab-and-go" beer heist at a Paramount liquor store Monday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.
The shooting left customers and vendors for the popular mini-mart stunned as police searched for three men in their late teens to early 20s. One of them had a tattoo on his left cheek.
"There's a sheriff's station right there!" Fred Becerra, a vendor for the store, said. "That's pretty brazen to go up to this place."
Two men entered Tequila Ranch Liquor Mart around 4 p.m. in the 8000 block of Somerset Boulevard, sheriff's officials said.
A getaway car was parked on the east side of the store.
When a clerk and a good Samaritan tackled the grab-and-go shoplifters, the driver got out of the vehicle, officials said.
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"The driver ... entered the liquor store and produced a handgun," Lt. Dave Coleman of the LA Sheriff's Department said. "He shot the employee and the other individual who was helping."
The clerk was shot multiple times, and was left in critical condition. On Tuesday, detectives said he was expected to survive.
The good Samaritan was killed. He was identified by the coroner's office Tuesday as 45-year-old Alfredo Alvarado.
The three men in the beer heist jumped in the getaway car and took off.
Investigators were looking into surveillance footage.
"There is video. We're going over it. As soon as we can compile that video, we will try to get it out as soon as we can," Coleman said.
