A robbery suspect who was shot and killed by a tobacco store owner in Norwalk on Tuesday has been identified as Rodney Gaston, 25, of Oakland.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the shopping center in the 1000 block of Firestone Boulevard that morning to find Gaston lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the torso.
He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The owner of Classic Tobacco, who was not named in a statement released Sunday by the sheriff’s department, told deputies he shot the man during an attempted robbery.
The owner said he was opening his store Tuesday morning when Gaston approached him holding a large can of pepper spray and a handgun, the statement said.
Two other men were following Gaston, the owner said.
After Gaston pepper-sprayed the store owner near the store’s entrance, he said he fired a single round from his own handgun, hitting Gaston.
The other two men fled to a residential area northeast of the mall, where they were eventually arrested by deputies.
Officers identified them as Lamont Neal, 22, of Stockton and Dashaunte Woods, 26, of Oakland. Neal and Woods were charged with robbery, according to the sheriff’s department.
Gaston also tried to flee, but quickly collapsed.
