Apr. 9, 1965 | Pawnshop Shootout in San Diego

Apr. 9, 1965 - Robert Anderson, 28 years old, entered a San Diego pawnshop yesterday morning around 10 a.m. and asked to see a rifle. Store manager Louis Richards, 61, handed him a 30.06 Remington and began writing up a bill of sale. But Anderson surprised the manager by grabbing a box of ammunition and quickly loading the rifle.
“If you want it, take it,” Richards said. Instead, Anderson raised the gun and fired, fatally wounding Richards. A second store employee, Theodore Swienty, 63, raced upstairs and hid in a small room. While Anderson searched for Swienty, police arrived and surrounded the pawnshop.
The four-hour shootout that resulted at the Hub Jewelry & Loan Co. was the biggest gun battle ever seen in downtown San Diego.

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