Pomona, California



From Ontario's Inland Valley Daily Bulletin of April 14, 2004:

Robbery at Pomona store ends in gunfire



A market owner's retaliatory shot may have hit its mark Wednesday morning after four young men robbed his neighborhood grocery store, police said.



The owner of the Central Mart at 1498 South Towne Ave. fired at one of four robbers who entered his store at 11:02 a.m., Pomona police said. One robber became upset when the owner and his wife refused to open a store safe, and fired one or two shots at the man, but missed.



The owner shot back several times with a gun he kept in the store, police said. That robber was seen limping away from the store, along with the three others, as they ran north on Towne Avenue toward a van parked on the street.



Another of the robbers fired on the store owner a second time when the owner went outside to check on his wife, who was lying on the ground outside the store. The robber missed, and the owner again returned fire in the robber's direction. The robber got into the van and drove north on Towne and out of sight.



The owner and his wife were not injured during the robbery.