A robbery suspect who was shot and killed by the owner of a Norwalk tobacconist Tuesday has been identified as Rodney Gaston, 25, of Oakland.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the mall in the 1000 block of Firestone Boulevard Tuesday 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 by the Sheriff’s Department on Sunday, told deputies that he shot the man during an attempted robbery.
The owner said he was in the process of opening his store Tuesday morning when Gaston approached him with a large canister of pepper spray and a gun, according to the statement.
Two other men followed Gaston, the owner said.
After Gaston pepper-sprayed the store owner near the store’s entrance, he said he fired a shot from his own gun, hitting Gaston.
The other two men fled to a residential area northeast of the mall, where they were eventually apprehended by deputies.
Deputies identified them as Lamont Neal, 22, of Stockton and Dashaunte Woods, 26, of Oakland. Neal and Woods have been charged with robbery, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Gaston also tried to escape, but quickly collapsed.