PORT HUENEME : Gunman Attacks Grocer, Takes $30,000

A man carrying a black handgun and wearing a stocking mask attacked a Port Hueneme grocery store owner Friday morning and took $30,000 she was carrying in a grocery bag, authorities said.

Tauy Nguyen, who with her husband owns Trade Winds Market, 872 N. Ventura Road, withdrew the money from a bank about 11:30 a.m., she said. The man confronted her in the parking lot, pushed her to the pavement and fled in a gray Oldsmobile stolen from Los Angeles County on Aug. 3, said dispatcher Brynda Parrott of the Port Hueneme Police Department.

Nguyen, 34, said she planned to keep the money in a store vault and use it to cash customers’ checks. She parked her van in the back lot and was carrying the money in a plastic bag within a larger, paper grocery bag when the man touched her and asked for the bag.

She thought he was joking until he pushed her to the ground and pointed a gun at her head, she said.

Two regular customers walking through the parking lot helped her after the man had fled, she said.