Man trying to thwart lunch-wagon robbery shot, run over

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Man trying to thwart lunch-wagon robbery shot, run over Michael Ging/The Arizona RepublicThe driver of a Ralph's Snack Bar truck is assisted by paramedics after being beaten and shot Friday. Ashley BachThe Arizona RepublicNov. 30, 2001 04:05:00A good Samaritan trying to break up a robbery of a snack truck was critically wounded Friday morning after he was run over by one of the robbers and shot with his own gun, police said.The unidentified man, in his 20s, was shot several times in the chest after he tried to help the driver of a snack truck that was being robbed in west Phoenix, Phoenix police Lt. Jeri Williams said. Two men approached the Ralph's Snack Bar truck at about 10:50 a.m. while it was stopped at a traffic light on 33rd Avenue and Thomas Road. They pulled the driver out of the car and shot him in the leg, Williams said.The good Samaritan, who was walking by, came up along the passenger's side of the truck with his gun and may have fired shots at the robbers, Williams said. A third robber, parked in a pick-up truck behind the snack truck, then drove forward and hit the man, sending him flying in the air, police said.The two other robbers then walked around the snack truck and shot the man in the chest with his own gun, Williams said.Police are searching for all three robbers, who drove away in a small white Toyota or Nissan pickup truck. They are described as Hispanic and in their 20s."It's a strong-arm robbery that went awry," Williams said.The three men might have been involved in another robbery of a snack truck in Phoenix last week, Williams said.The good Samaritan was in critical condition Friday morning at a Valley hospital. The injuries to the driver of the snack truck were not expected to be life-threatening. A female cook who was in the back of the snack truck escaped unharmed. Ray Waggoner was raking his leaves a few houses away when he heard the shots. He called police on his cell phone and then rushed over to the man who tried to intervene, who was bleeding from his abdomen."I looked down and I told him, 'It's going to be okay. You're going to make it.'" Waggoner said. "Then I prayed for him."Bertha Cebular, who works nearby, said she was scared to hear the news. "You live with it," she said. "Now I know not to be a good Samaritan." http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/breaking/1130lunchshooting30-ON.html