A would-be robber who was fatally shot by the owner of a Norwalk tobacco shop has been identified as 25-year-old Rodney Gaston from Oakland. The incident occurred around 9 a.m. on Tuesday at Classic Tobacco in the 10900 block of East Firestone Boulevard.
According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Gaston entered the shop armed with a handgun, accompanied by two others. After pepper-spraying the store owner, Gaston was shot in the torso when the owner fired in self-defense.
The suspects fled, but Gaston collapsed nearby and was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The other two suspects, identified as 22-year-old Lamont Neal of Stockton and 26-year-old Dashaunte Woods of Oakland, were later apprehended by deputies in a nearby residential area.
