Suspect in Fatal Shootout Tells Police He Shot 1st

The man being held in a botched robbery outside a Van Nuys Costco told authorities that he fired the first shot in the bloody gun battle with an armored truck guard, police said Tuesday.

Ramon Gutierrez, 38, was charged with murder, attempted murder and attempted robbery in the Sunday afternoon shootout that left one shopper dead and two critically wounded. He did not appear in court Tuesday because he is still hospitalized recovering from a gunshot wound to his leg.

Gutierrez may face additional charges depending on the outcome of the investigation, Deputy Dist. Atty. Keri Modder said. Gutierrez is scheduled to be arraigned today in Van Nuys Superior Court.

Police said Gutierrez has been cooperating with police since his capture. Two accomplices in Sunday afternoon’s shootout remain at large.

Because of the special circumstance of murder committed during a robbery, Gutierrez is eligible for the death penalty. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has not yet decided whether to seek capital punishment, Modder said.

So far, police are relying on Gutierrez’s word for his identity because a fingerprint check and other background searches failed to turn up anything on the man, who told police he is a resident of Mexico.

“He’s never been arrested here,” said Lt. Jim Grayson of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division. He added that Gutierrez also did not turn up in the Immigration and Naturalization Service database. “None of us has any records on him,” Grayson said. The LAPD is currently working with Mexican authorities to determine Gutierrez’s identity.

Gutierrez is believed to be one of the two gunmen who tried to ambush armored truck courier Daniel Salazar while he was making a routine pickup at the warehouse store, authorities said. The third suspect is the driver of the getaway vehicle.

As Salazar walked out of the store carrying a bag filled with checks, cash and electronic payment slips, a man wielding an assault rifle approached him, announced it was a robbery and demanded the money, Grayson said. A second gunman, who witnesses said was also carrying an assault rifle, approached the courier, who was armed with a 9-millimeter pistol.

In front of scores of horrified shoppers at the packed store, Salazar and the two bandits began shooting. Witnesses told police the robbers appeared to be firing indiscriminately into the crowd.

Salazar, 29, of Canyon Country dashed unharmed into his armored car. No money was taken.

On his first day back at work at the Van Nuys office of Sectran Security Inc., Salazar said he felt fine but declined a request for an interview, citing a “gag order” by company management.

The shootout left Owen Alexander Wolf, 29, of Studio City, dead of a gunshot wound to the head.

Kien Chau, 57, who was shot in the hip, remained in critical condition Tuesday after surgery at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, said spokeswoman Lori Solomon.

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Doctors at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center upgraded the condition of Chau’s wife, Bachtuyett Tran, 51, from critical to serious. She is recovering from surgery after being shot in the abdomen and leg.

“She has shown improvement,” hospital spokeswoman Tiffany DeVall said. “Her vital signs are better.”

Police do not yet know whose bullets struck the shoppers because fragments still need to be extracted and undergo ballistics testing. But preliminary indications, based on the line of fire, suggest that the victims were shot by the robbers, Grayson said.

Gutierrez told police he fired first in the exchange of gunfire, Grayson said. The accused gunman is believed to have been shot by Salazar, the courier.

Gutierrez told authorities that he frequently traveled back and forth across the Tijuana-San Diego border. “He said he had no family here. Nobody he would tell us [about], anyway,” Grayson said.

Police also confirmed that the gun they found when they arrested Gutierrez was an AK-47, an illegal assault rifle. Its ownership could not be traced.

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Times staff writer Kristina Sauerwein contributed to this story.