Robbers Kill Fireworks Stand Security Guard
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GARDEN GROVE — Robbers killed a security guard at a fireworks stand Tuesday and bound two 16-year-olds with duct tape at a second stand nearby, police said.
The body of the 36-year-old security guard, William Martin of Garden Grove, was found about 5 a.m. outside a Red Devil fireworks stand in the Pavilion Plaza parking lot at Brookhurst Street and Chapman Avenue, police said.
Martin may have surprised burglars as they were trying to pry open the door to the stand, investigators said. He was stabbed in the throat, but the robbers apparently did not take anything.
The body was found a few blocks from where two 16-year-olds who were guarding a Freedom Fireworks stand in a field at Garden Grove Boulevard and Euclid Street were tied up at gunpoint and the stand was robbed of $6,000 worth of fireworks.
Garden Grove Police Sgt. Scott Watson said police are investigating whether the same robbers struck both stands.
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