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Vance Donnell Dean, 40

Vance Dean, a 40-year-old black man, was shot and killed Monday, April 5, in the 300 block of North Long Beach Boulevard in Compton, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

Dean and Lejon David Robins, a co-worker, were discovered by deputies responding to a burglary-in-progress call just before 8 p.m. at Custom City Auto, authorities said. The two were shot dead after a group of men tried to rob the store.

Another employee, an adult male, was wounded but is expected to live, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Benjamin Grubb said.

When deputies arrived, they saw a green van matching a description of the suspects’ vehicle driving away. Deputies pulled the van over a few blocks away at Ward Avenue and Compton Boulevard and, after a brief chase, arrested six men.

One, however, became unresponsive in the back of a patrol car and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead of an apparent heart attack. The coroner’s office did not give his name, pending notification of next of kin.

-- Tony Barboza and Corina Knoll

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