A robbery suspect who was shot and killed by the owner of a Norwalk tobacco store on Tuesday has been identified as Rodney Gaston, 25, of Oakland.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies arrived at the shopping center in the 1000 block of Firestone Boulevard Tuesday morning and found Gaston lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the torso.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The owner of Classic Tobacco, whose name was not released in a statement released by the Sheriff's Department on Sunday, told deputies he shot the man during an attempted robbery.
The owner said he was in the process of opening his store Tuesday morning when Gaston approached him holding a large canister of pepper spray and a handgun, according to the statement.
Behind Gaston were two other men, the owner said.
After Gaston pepper-sprayed the store owner near the store's entrance, the store owner said he fired a single bullet from his own gun, striking Gaston.
The other two men fled to a residential neighborhood northeast of the mall, where they were eventually arrested by officers.
Deputies identified them as Lamont Neal, 22, of Stockton and Dashaunte Woods, 26, of Oakland. Neal and Woods have been charged with robbery, according to the Sheriff's Department.
Gaston also tried to flee, but quickly collapsed.
