VAN NUYS : City Extends Reward Offered in Slaying

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to extend a $25,000 reward it has offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of two suspects who shot and killed a man in October at a Van Nuys supermarket.

The reward is for information about the Oct. 19 shooting of Robert Joseph Ward, a Coca-Cola employee killed by two men as they robbed a Ralphs Market at Sherman Way and Woodman Avenue. According to police, the same suspects were responsible for robberies earlier the same day at three other Ralphs stores.

Ward, 28, was using a telephone inside the store when the robbery occurred. The bandits demanded that Ward get off the phone and, when he did not, gunned him down. Coca-Cola and Ralphs are also offering a $25,000 reward in the matter.