Teen Shot in Robbery Dies

PALMDALE — A 17-year-old boy died Wednesday after he was shot in the head while allegedly driving the getaway car from an armed robbery at a Palmdale liquor store, authorities said.

Jamar Pearson of Palmdale, who died at 7:30 a.m., was hit at least once after he and two other teen-agers held up Midway Market Liquor on the 38400 block of 35th Street East, authorities said.

An autopsy is scheduled later this week, a coroner’s spokesman said.

Authorities said Pearson waited in a four-door green Jaguar while two other youths--one armed with a shotgun, the other carrying a handgun--robbed the store.

After the robbery, the store’s owner and the owner of an adjacent store opened fire, hitting Pearson, authorities said.

Sheriff’s investigators do not know whether Pearson was armed, said spokeswoman Angie McLaughlin.

The other suspects, both 16, escaped the shootout. They fled on foot and held a man and his wife hostage in a nearby home, authorities said.

The pair surrendered about three hours after the robbery.

The teen-agers, who have not been identified because of their ages, are being held without bail on suspicion of robbery, unlawful imprisonment and murder because a death occurred in the commission of a crime, McLaughlin said.

No charges have been filed against either store owner, whose names have not been released.