Good Guy with a Gun #278: Norwalk, CA
Three suspects against one owner sounds like bad odds, but the robbers’ plan went up in smoke. | Original incident: August 6, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is significantly updated from the calendar version.
It was about 8:30 AM, and Andy, the owner of Classic Tobacco, had just picked up $50-60,000 worth of inventory from Costco. He pulled into the parking lot to get his store ready for opening. And that’s when three thugs broke his car window and tried to rob him.1
This wasn’t his first rodeo — more like his fifth that year. He ran back into his store and grabbed his handgun. At least one of the robbers followed him into the store and hit him with pepper spray in his face and arm.
So Andy shot him. It was a solid hit in the chest.
All three ran. Their getaway car, it turned out, was blocked in the lot, so they went on foot instead. [Insert parking-is-terrible-in-greater-Los-Angeles joke here.]
Rodney Gaston, 25, of Oakland was the man whom Andy shot. He ran into a back alley and collapsed. First responders found him and took him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The other two didn’t get far either.
Emilio Gonzalez, out walking his dog a few blocks over, watched them come through. “I could tell they had been running hard,” he said. “One of the guys put his hands up against the fence and was breathing really hard.” He didn’t piece together what he’d seen until later: “I now know that they had watched their associate get shot in the chest and they were getting the heck out of there.”
Deputies traced the pair to a house nearby. SWAT and a K9 unit surrounded the house, where the two men were hiding in a shed. A neighbor, Art Guzman, watched them come out: “We saw two suspects backing up with their hands up,” he said. “We never see this kind of commotion going on. So you could say it’s scary because we have kids.” This was caught by Air 7 — the eyes in the sky — as well.
Lamont Neal, 22, of Stockton, and Dashaunte Woods, 26, of Oakland, were both booked for robbery. One could wish they were prosecuted for murder under the felony murder rule, but if they were, it didn’t make the news.
“They thought they were going to get cigarettes apparently,” Gonzalez said. “Well, they didn’t get cigarettes. Don’t come to Norwalk and mess around.”
Andy wasn’t hurt, but Sam says they’d love to get out of the business because of the amount of crime they’re subjected to. “We’ve been getting a lot of things like this,” he said, “last year like four or five times.”
Sources
Local news
The reporting here generally was really good, though there were a few little discrepancies here and there.
The video at Norwalk business owner shoots and kills attempted burglary suspect (CBS Los Angeles) is the interview that had Sam speaking about the incident — and how much crime he and Andy have had to deal with. It’s about 2:47 long, which is a generous chunk of time.
ABC 7’s coverage is good as well, with 2:26 of video. Norwalk smoke shop owner fatally shoots suspect during robbery attempt
KTLA 5 had eyes in the sky as well, and this video is really fun for the sweep it gives you from the Classic Tobacco location to the place where the two robbers had run.
FOX 11 also covered the incident, and also had a helicopter up. Maybe traffic is so bad in the area that that’s the only way to cover the news? Maybe there’s a press helicopter pool? At any rate, their report was from 9:36 AM, so they didn’t fully even know what was going on yet. Norwalk store owner shoots would-be robber to death; 2 others detained and 4th suspect on the run (FOX 11)
The City News Service wire item was carried by MyNewsLA and 2 Urban Girls as well. Robber fatally shot by Norwalk store owner identified as Oakland resident (NBC Los Angeles)
The Downey Patriot’s same-day item ran before the outcome was confirmed and is largely superseded by the above. Suspect shot trying to rob Norwalk tobacco shop (The Downey Patriot)
2A / specialist media
Sean Holt’s account at USA Carry follows KCAL’s telling and is similar to what I’ve pieced together, though slightly different. Norwalk Business Owner Fatally Shoots Burglary Suspect During Attempted Robbery After Being Pepper Sprayed
The Blaze ran a non-bylined article: 3 thugs try to rob California tobacco shop, but armed owner opens fire with lethal consequences
Brandon Curtis followed the other news outlets in writing Tobacco Store Owner Shoots Robber Dead, 2 Others Arrested for Concealed Nation.
No news organization tells the story exactly this way, but it’s how I reconcile what his business partner, Sam, said to CBS News.
If you listen to the video at KABC 7 starting at about 50 seconds in, you’ll hear Lt. Daniel Vizcarra give a very brief version of the story that starts with Andy setting up the store for the day. What he says is consistent with the idea that carries most of these stories — “Four male suspects entered the store and tried to rob the owner at gunpoint, sheriff's Lt. Daniel Vizcarra told reporters,” from the same story. (That number was later dropped to three, though it’s never quite clear whether there were always just three or whether one got away. Such is the fog of war and DGUs.)
But if you listen to Sam, who spoke to KCAL/CBS News, starting at 1:21 in the video there, it sounds like Andy ran into the store after the robbers broke the window to his car, and at least one of the robbers followed him in — and that’s when he grabbed his gun and was pepper sprayed. Jasmine Viel’s reporting doesn’t say this explicitly, but it’s consistent with the idea.