2 Sought in String of Holdups, Killing

Police and sheriff’s deputies were still searching Thursday for a pair of armed robbers who allegedly shot and killed one man and wounded a store owner during a violent, three-store robbery spree in the San Gabriel Valley Tuesday night.

The robbers, masked and clad in black, stole a sports car at gunpoint at a West Covina shopping mall before holding up two “mom and pop” stores in Rosemead and El Monte and a Duarte pizza franchise over a two-hour period, authorities said. The pair later eluded deputies after a high-speed chase early Wednesday morning.

Detectives said the frequency and close proximity of the hold-ups made them unusual.

During the robbery of the Marketplace, a small general store in El Monte, Yung Suk Yoon of Diamond Bar, the store’s 31-year-old manager, was shot and killed. Yoon, whose family owns the store, apparently struggled with the robbers, said El Monte Police Detective Gary Walker.