2 Men Seize Catering Truck, Wound Driver

Two men commandeered a catering truck in Westwood and shot and wounded the driver before abandoning the vehicle less than a mile away, police said Thursday.

The driver, a 45-year-old man, was in fair condition at UCLA Medical Center after undergoing surgery for a bullet wound to the stomach, a hospital spokeswoman said. His name was withheld. It was not known whether anything was stolen from the truck, and there were no arrests.

Police said Wednesday’s incident apparently was not related to the abduction and slayings of five catering truck workers in the San Fernando Valley in December. No arrests have been made in those slayings.

In Wednesday’s incident, the two men, one carrying a handgun, approached the truck as the driver was serving customers, said Detective Ron Phillips. After demanding money, the gunman shot the driver without warning, and both men threw the driver and a cook from the truck before driving away, Phillips said.