LA security guard charged with murder in pharmacy shooting

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County prosecutors say a pharmacy security guard has been charged with murder for the fatal shooting of a man he suspected of shoplifting.

Twenty-eight-year-old Donald Vincent Ciota II of Covina is scheduled for arraignment Monday on the murder count and an allegation of using a firearm as a deadly and dangerous weapon.

The shooting occurred Dec. 2 at a Walgreens at Sunset and Vine in Hollywood.

The District Attorney’s Office says Ciota confronted 21-year-old Jonathan Hart inside the pharmacy on Sunset and Vine and a physical altercation ensued.

Prosecutors allege Ciota pulled a firearm and shot Hart in the back as he ran away.

If convicted, Ciota faces up to 50 years to life in state prison.