A security guard was fatally stabbed Sunday afternoon outside a Sylmar grocery store, according to the Los Angeles Police Department's Mission Division station.
The stabbing was reported around 2:45 p.m. at the Food 4 Less located at 12689 Glenoaks Boulevard.
The suspect – possibly a transient – entered the store and attempted to grab a "quantity of beer" before being confronted by security, said Lt. Mike Kozak.
The transient left the store and security pursued him onto the street where the altercation continued.
"He was chasing him on the bike. The security guard," witness Elena Lira told NBC4. "But then that guy had a knife and cut his neck."
The suspected shoplifter stabbed the Food 4 Less security guard who later died at a hospital.
Lira said the guard was a man in his late 20s. She said he was a gentleman who often helped her load her groceries.
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"I'm just praying for his family. He comes out to work and now he's gone, you know. It's very sad," she said.
The suspect was arrested at a home across the street in connection with the stabbing, police said.
The guard – described only as a male adult -- was nearing the end of his shift shortly before the stabbing.
"It appears that the victim’s brother was coming to pick him up from work … and pulled up to the curb and actually observed the incident occur," Kozak said.
Kozak added that there seems to be a history between the suspect and the store. When the broadcast came out, officers readily knew who he was from prior contact.
