'Angry' mini-mart manager lucky to be alive after robbery

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Hiding in the box-shaped bathroom of La Milpa mini mart Thursday, Ramon Valdez didn't know what he would do next after calling police to report his store was being robbed.

Then he opened the door to see a man in a ski mask rifling beneath his desk just feet away with a double-barreled, sawed-off shotgun by his side. Before the fear set in, Valdez, 49, said his anger took over.

Valdez charged the man, catching him by the right arm just as he swung the shotgun toward him. They punched and clawed at each other until the gun went off, blasting out the right eye of a poster of Latin pop star Rocio Sandoval instead of Valdez.

Valdez, the store manager and a father of three, took the weapon and hit the robber over the head with it as the man hopped the desk and ran out the store's front door at the corner of South Sixth Avenue and West Nob Hill Boulevard. The robber intended to catch a ride in a yet to be identified accomplice's getaway vehicle, but he fell in the snow as Valdez was hot on his heels.

"In that moment, I was angry," Valdez said in an interview Friday. "Why did I do that? Why didn't I give him the money?

"I don't understand it myself."

Valdez pummeled him some more in the snow, coming away from the fight with only minor scratches and bruises. At that point driver in the getaway vehicle decided to, well, get away.

"He was running after (the vehicle) shouting 'Wait! Don't go!'" Valdez said, waving his arms in the air to demonstrate.

The robber ran off and circled the block before returning to Nob Hill, where Yakima police said he tried to carjack several motorists in the middle of the snow-clogged thoroughfare.

At that point police were arriving after getting numerous calls from nearby residents -- including a family of four living in the basement apartment beneath La Milpa who heard the entire incident. Officer Esther Cyr ordered the suspect to the ground as other units arrived as backup.

"At first I just heard stomping, as if someone was kicking snow off their feet," said Eloy Magana, who was in his apartment with his wife and a 3-year-old daughter when the incident took place at 1:42 p.m. "When I heard the shot, I thought someone had killed him (Valdez)."

Magana, who delivers newspapers for the Yakima Herald-Republic, said his 5-year-old daughter was at school when the incident occurred, but his 3-year-old daughter Janet was in bed watching TV. His wife, Maribel Garcia, stayed with their daughter while Magana went up to check.

"I was so scared that it was making my stomach hurt," Garcia said.

David Allen Vickers, 39, was booked on multiple charges of armed robbery and firearms violations. Police described him as having a lengthy criminal record, including convictions for drugs and burglary, but no violent crimes.

Police are still looking for driver of the getaway vehicle, which is described as white Toyota pickup.

La Milpa owner Luz Gutierrez, who is also founder of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Yakima County, expressed amazement that Valdez wasn't hurt more seriously in the incident.

"It is a hero story," Gutierrez said. "It's about saving what you work for."

It wasn't until Valdez went back inside and sat down that the reality of the threat made on his life set in.

"Every day I say 'Thank you God. Protect me God,'" Valdez said. "And he protected me."

* Mike Faulk can be reached at 509-577-7675 or mfaulk@yakimaherald.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Mike_Faulk.