Retired Boxer Battles Gunmen in Shootout : Crime: The incident is one of five weekend shootings. An ex-boyfriend is sought in a Van Nuys slaying.

A retired boxer from North Hollywood was credited with saving the lives of customers and employees of a Laurel Canyon Boulevard restaurant this weekend when he wounded two robbers in a running gun battle that spilled onto the street, police said.

The shooting was one of five reported in northern Los Angeles County as the weekend got off to a violent start, leaving two people dead and five others wounded, authorities said Saturday.

“When they said they were going to start killing people and that somebody was going to die, that’s when I came up shooting,� Randy Shields, 36, a welterweight boxer ranked No. 1 in the world a decade ago, said Saturday in explaining his role in the Laurel Canyon Boulevard shootout.

When the shooting ended early Saturday morning, Shields had a leg wound and police had three men in custody on suspicion of robbing three businesses within two hours Friday night.

The suspects were identified as Tyron Hill and Michael and Terry Redd, all said to be in their 20s, according to police. Terry Redd sustained gunshot wounds to his chest and back and Hill was shot in the right buttock. They were arrested when they called for an ambulance at a house in Valley Village, saying they were victims of a drive-by shooting.

Shields seemed to take the shootout and his wound in stride. “I’m an ex-professional fighter who has fought Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns, so I’m used to pain,� he said.

The robbery spree began at 11 p.m. Friday when two men wearing ski masks entered a Marie Callender’s restaurant at 14743 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks and took $300 from the cash register after firing shots into the wall and ceiling, said Sgt. Tim Day.

An hour later, two armed suspects believed to be the same men robbed Twenty Twenty Video, 15053 Ventura Blvd., of $500, Day said.

Shields was eating dinner along with 20 other customers at the Four ‘N 20 restaurant at 4723 Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Valley Village just after midnight when two men entered and fired at least one round into the ceiling, Sgt. Robert Ontiveros said. The robbers ordered the customers to the floor and fired three shots at Shields when he scrambled to the back of the dining room to take cover, he said. One of the bullets grazed the back of his thigh.

The robbers then demanded that a cook open the register and when he failed to do so one of the suspects shot at his foot, police said. The bullet went through the shoe but missed his foot, police said.

From his hiding place, Shields heard the gunshots and the suspects ordering the customers and employees to turn over their wallets.

“They said they were going to kill somebody if they didn’t get money,� Shields said.

Deciding lives were in jeopardy, Shields, who is a professional bodyguard and was carrying a gun, fired six shots at the robbers, he said. The suspects turned and ran, but Shields chased them outside.

“I chased them into the parking lot and they shot at me again,� Shields said. “I heard bullets whiz by my head.�

Shields returned fire, but when the suspects fired again and he ran out of bullets, he dived back into the restaurant.

The suspects got into a car and drove off but fired once more into the restaurant as they drove by, Shields said.

The suspects were arrested when an ambulance was called to a home in the 11000 block of Chandler Boulevard in Valley Village, Ontiveros said. The men said they had been the victims of a drive-by shooting, but authorities used their car and other information to link them to the robberies. Terry Redd was listed in stable condition at County-USC Medical Center on Saturday night. Hill was also treated at the medical center. Police suspect Michael Redd was the getaway driver.

Ontiveros praised Shields, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

“I think he did the right thing,� Ontiveros said. “They kept saying they were going to kill somebody if they didn’t get any money. I think other peoples’ lives didn’t mean anything to them.�

In other violence, a 27-year-old woman was shot to death in her Van Nuys apartment at 4 p.m. Friday, and police were looking for her former boyfriend, said Los Angeles Police Sgt. Kevin Williams.

Later Friday, Eric Madrid Montaniel, 21, of Sylmar was shot to death as he sat in his car in the parking lot of a Pacoima market, police said.

In the Van Nuys shooting, officers were called to the apartment to check out a report of an assault and found the woman, a native of Honduras, dead of a gunshot wound to the upper body, police said. Her identity has not been released.

Investigators later learned that the woman had been arguing with her ex-boyfriend, identified by police as Jose Herminio Carmona, 35. It was not known why the couple had quarreled.

Police believe Carmona, also a Honduras native, may have headed for Mexico.

In the Pacoima shooting, Montaniel was alone in his Chevrolet Blazer outside the Eden Roc market in the 13400 block of Van Nuys Boulevard about 9:30 p.m. when two vehicles drove by. An occupant of one of the cars shouted a gang slogan as another fired several shots, one of which hit Montaniel, said Detective Al Ferrand.

Montaniel was dead on arrival at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, authorities said.

In another San Fernando Valley shooting, the passenger of a car that was southbound on Topanga Canyon Boulevard near Valerio Street in Canoga Park was shot in the head about 10:15 p.m. Friday by an occupant in a passing Suzuki Samurai, police said.

The victim, Anthony Ramon Enrique, 23, of Chatsworth, was in critical condition Saturday in West Valley Hospital, a hospital spokeswoman said.

The shooting occurred after three male occupants of a vehicle began shouting angrily at Enrique and his companion, Timothy O’Malley of Chatsworth, said Sgt. Frank McConnell.

O’Malley drove Enrique to the hospital.

Police investigating the shooting had no suspects on Saturday.

In the Antelope Valley, Gilbert Estrada, 20, of Palmdale was in stable condition at a local hospital Saturday after being shot by unknown assailants, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Estrada and a male friend were walking in the 100 block of Avenue Q-4 in Palmdale shortly after 10 p.m. Friday when they heard gunshots, authorities said. Estrada took cover behind a vehicle, but was hit by several rounds, one in the stomach.

The identities of Estrada’s assailants were unknown.