Fatally Wounded Shopkeeper Kills Bandit

The owner of a combination gun store and vacuum cleaner repair shop was fatally wounded Tuesday during a robbery in which he shot and killed one of two gunmen, police said.

The second holdup man and a driver fled and were still at large late Tuesday.

George Watson, 47, the proprietor of KH Vacuums in the 4300 block of Orange Avenue in East San Diego, died in surgery at Mercy Hospital shortly after the 4 p.m. robbery. Watson was wounded in the abdomen when he traded shots with the bandits, Police Lt. Gary Learn said.

Police responding to a reported robbery and shooting found a masked gunman on the floor of the shop. There was a semi-automatic pistol at his side, Learn said. Watson was on the floor a few feet away. Learn said that Watson used a .357 Magnum revolver to shoot the bandit, who remains unidentified.

The second bandit in the abortive robbery ran from the store and fled in a car driven by a waiting accomplice. A revolver found in an alley by the store may have belonged to the second gunman, Learn said. The car used by the bandits was abandoned several blocks away. It had been stolen.

A glass case containing pistols was shattered in the robbery, but it wasn’t know if the second bandit had taken any of the weapons, Learn said.

The store, which advertises guns for sale, purchase or repair and deals in vacuum cleaners on the side, was robbed about two years ago, neighbors said.

Neighbors said Watson ran the business he owned with his father. They said he was the father of two daughters and a religious man.

Neighbor Vahe Derounian described Watson as, “Upright, somebody you could trust. He didn’t deserve this.

“These are the type of people you don’t get anymore, who take care of their neighborhood. He obviously died protecting his business,” said Derounian, who runs a nearby print shop.