5 In Shootout With Police; Four Captured
Sunday, August 22nd, 1971
HAWTHORNE, Calif., Aug. 22 – Five men robbing a Hawthorne surplus store shot it out with police for more than 10 minutes Saturday night.
Three of the suspects were seriously wounded. No police were injured, however.
Officers said the five men entered the Western Surplus Store at 13455 Hawthorne Blvd. about 9 p.m. They forced two women customers and three male employees to lie on the floor and were assembling about 200 guns to be carried out to a van in the alley.
The van had a female driver.
One of the employees managed to trigger a silent alarm, which brought officers from Hawthorne, El Segundo, Redondo Beach and the Lennox sheriff’s station.
They surrounded the building and the shootout began.
One suspect escaped and another was captured. The female driver of the van was also taken in custody.
One police car, officers said, was riddled with 30 bullet holes.
None of the suspects were identified immediately.
I remember that evening as if was yesterday, many brave officers risked it all that night. The clan was dead serious…Jmc #044