A robbery suspect shot and killed by a Norwalk tobacco store owner on Tuesday has been identified as Rodney Gaston, 25, of Oakland.
That morning, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the mall in the 1000 block of Firestone Avenue and found 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 the Classic Tobacco Shop, who was not named in a statement released by the Sheriff’s Department on Sunday, told deputies that he shot the man during a robbery attempt.
The owner said he was opening his store Tuesday morning when Gaston approached him with a large can of pepper spray and a handgun, the statement said.
Two other men followed Gaston, the store owner said.
After Gaston pepper-sprayed the store owner near the store’s entrance, he said he fired one shot from his own handgun, striking Gaston.
Two other men fled to a residential area northeast of the shopping center and were eventually detained by police.
Deputies identified them as Lamont Neal, 22, of Stockton, and Dashote Woods, 26, of Oakland. Neal and Woods have been charged with robbery, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
Gaston also tried to escape, but soon collapsed.
