Lynwood shooting: Restaurant owner killed

LYNWOOD, Calif. (KABC) -- The owner of a restaurant in Lynwood was shot and killed during a possible robbery early Monday morning, authorities said.

The shooting happened around 12:37 a.m. at Mariscos La Playita on the 11020 block of South Atlantic Avenue. The family says Jose Asuncion Padilla, 65, had just arrived from his other restaurant to close up at La Playita. As he walked through the back door, detectives say he was confronted by three armed men.

Neighbor Devvion Brown said he heard at least seven to 10 shots fired.

"We thought it was fireworks, the kids pop fireworks over here all the time. We didn't think anything of it until we heard the ambulance and we came outside and saw it," said Brown.

The suspects fled the scene in an unknown vehicle.

Padilla was transported to St. Francis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

There were four workers in the restaurant at the time, but the family says the robbers went straight for Padilla. The family wonders if they had followed him from his other restaurant in Compton.

Padilla was armed. The shooting left his gun in pieces. The family believes he didn't give up easily.

"He fought. He wasn't going down without a fight," said Blanca Padilla, the victim's daughter.

Padilla's family says he was a hard-working man who loved his family. He had six children and 11 grandchildren. The family has a message for the killers.

"They're cowards," said Miriam Padilla, another daughter of the victim's. "They can't go out and work like my father did, and earn their money like my father did. They're trash. What can I tell you?"

Sheriff's officials have obtained surveillance video of the shooting. They did not release information about the suspects.

The family is offering a reward for information that will help police capture the killers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the L.A. County Sheriff's Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.