Security Guard Is Fatally Shot at Orange Mall

A security guard was fatally shot and a second guard was wounded in the arm outside a Sears store in the Mall of Orange on Friday as scores of shoppers milled nearby.

Police said the security guard died on the way to the hospital of two gunshot wounds to the chest. His killer, who remains at large, had tried to shoplift a paint sprayer, police said.

“This is such a sad ending,” said Jose Naranjo, a Sears employee who worked with the slain guard. “He was such a quiet, nice guy.”

The incident began about 4 p.m. when a man approached a clerk in Sears and said that he had recently purchased the new paint sprayer he was carrying and wanted a refund, even though he didn’t have a receipt, Police Lt. Art Romo said.

The clerk became suspicious that the man had shoplifted the sprayer and called two store security officers, who asked the man for identification, Romo said.

Police and witnesses said the man and the two unarmed security officers walked to the parking lot, apparently to get identification from the man’s car.

“Something happened and a struggle ensued,” Romo said. “We’re not sure what exactly happened or what words were exchanged, but there was a physical struggle.”

The man pulled out a handgun and shot one security guard at least twice in the chest “at pretty close range,” Romo said. The second guard was shot at least once in the arm and stepped back into the store.

“We are not sure who was shot first or exactly how it happened,” Romo said. “Somehow, the [second] guard was able to run away.”

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The killer got into a silver Buick Skylark driven by a second person, and they sped from the parking lot and onto Tustin Avenue, police said.

Police have not released the names of the guards. The wounded guard was in stable condition Friday night at a local hospital.

Romo said some witnesses described the driver of the Skylark as a woman, while other believed the driver was a heavy-set man.

Bo Gilliard, who witnessed the shooting from his car, said he initially thought the three men were play-wrestling until the shots were fired and one guard fell to the ground.

Then, Gilliard said, he noticed the other security guard holding his arm, blood streaming from it, as the guard went toward the Sears store. Gilliard and a friend tried to write down the getaway car’s license-plate number. They got only a partial plate, which police said begins with 2UI. The right rear of the car has some damage, police said.

“I’m a little shaken. I knew California was fast but . . . I’m not used to this. I’m from Texas,” Gilliard said.

Nettie Flores said she was driving into the parking lot just as the guards were wrestling with the man. Then she heard a volley of shots and quickly parked her car and ducked.

“I didn’t know what was going on,” said Flores, who lives in Orange. “I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, you better duck.’ This is so scary.”

Investigators planned to view a department store surveillance video that they believe will show the man attempting to return the paint sprayer to the clerk.

They described the killer as a 20-year-old Latino, 5 feet 7, 170 pounds with short black hair, wearing a vertically striped dark and light shirt. His accomplice was described as 20 to 22 years old, white, 5 feet 9 to 5 feet 11, 225 pounds, with medium-length blond or light brown hair. He wore khaki pants and a black T-shirt.

Police said they believe that he was attempting a “common scam” of stealing merchandise and trying to return it for a cash refund.

“This happens at all department stores,” Romo said. “They’ve been doing it since I was a rookie cop.”

A portion of the mall parking lot, on Tustin Avenue near the Costa Mesa Freeway, was closed after the shooting, but other parts of the shopping mall remained open. As TV station helicopters hovered above, crowds of people stood by the scene, watching.

The shooting was reminiscent of the 1980 shooting of off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy Ira Essoe. Essoe was shot and paralyzed while trying to arrest a three car thieves in the mall’s parking lot.

Some bystanders Friday said they knew both guards and could not believe that such a tragedy could occur so quickly and for such a petty item.

Manuel Almerco, a co-worker of the slain guard, couldn’t comprehend what had happened.

“Why? I don’t understand,” he said. “Why are there such crazy people?”