Bike Shop Owner Will Not Be Prosecuted

VAN NUYS — A bicycle shop owner who fatally shot a thief outside his store in December was acting in self-defense, according to prosecutors.

Larry Hoffman told authorities he was alone in his store, the Pedal Shop, on Lankershim Boulevard and Kling Street, on Dec. 26 when Anthony Fierro, 42, attacked him with a hammer in an attempt to steal a bike.

Hoffman ran outside and yelled for someone to call police, then went back inside and grabbed his gun.

He saw Fierro and his nephew loading a bicycle into a van behind the store and said he told them to stop and that he had a gun.

Hoffman said Fierro drew back his hammer and walked toward Hoffman, who fired his weapon.

Police did not arrest Hoffman, but submitted the results of their investigation to the district attorney’s office last week. Van Nuys assistant Head Deputy Dist. Atty. John Zajac found that Hoffman “had a right to use deadly force in self defense against the deceased, whose hammer-wielding attack in the parking lot placed the owner in imminent danger of death or great bodily injury,” according to a memo declining prosecution prepared on Friday.

He said hammer fragments found at the scene corroborate Hoffman’s claim that he was being attacked when he pulled the trigger.