2 Suspected Lawbreakers Are Shot Dead : Crime: A Torrance liquor store clerk kills an alleged robber, while in Hawthorne a body is found in a parking lot.

In separate incidents in Torrance and Hawthorne last weekend, two suspected lawbreakers were shot and killed and another was wounded.

In Torrance, an alleged armed robber was shot dead and another was wounded by a 67-year-old liquor store clerk. In Hawthorne, a man was found dead from a gunshot wound in a parking lot early Sunday morning, his body surrounded by car stereos.

In the Torrance incident, investigators say two men armed with at least one 9-mm handgun walked into the Red Eye liquor store in the 21100 block of Hawthorne Boulevard about 10 p.m. Sunday and demanded money from the clerk. The clerk dropped behind the counter and the robbers started shooting.

The clerk then grabbed a .357-caliber handgun and fired back, hitting one of the suspects in the chest, Torrance Sgt. Gil Kranke said. The clerk suffered a grazing wound in the neck. Both suspects ran from the store, Kranke said, pursued by the clerk, who fired another shot. The suspect who had been shot in the chest collapsed and died after running about 40 yards into an alley next to the store. His companion got in a car and drove off but was arrested about an hour later at the hospital where he had sought treatment for a bullet wound in the leg, Kranke said.

The clerk, whose name was not released, was treated for his neck wound and released, Kranke said. The wounded suspect was identified by police as Michael Delee Overton, 19, of Los Angeles. The dead suspect was identified as Bonnice Lockett Jr., 17, also of Los Angeles.

Kranke said the clerk apparently shot in self-defense, and no charges against him are expected.

Earlier Sunday in Hawthorne, about 4:40 a.m., police responded to reports of shooting in an apartment building’s underground parking lot in the 13000 block of Doty Avenue and found the body of a man in his 20s with a gunshot wound to the head. Four car stereos that apparently had been taken from cars parked in the lot were found next to the body.

Investigators believe the man may have been shot by someone who caught him stealing the stereos. Sheriff’s homicide investigators who are assisting Hawthorne police in the case interviewed numerous residents of the 76-unit apartment building, but no one has been arrested.

Citizens are permitted to use deadly force to protect themselves or others from bodily harm, but not simply to protect property.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Larry Lincoln said the dead man has not been identified, but apartment manager Guadalupe Gonzalez said he did not appear to have been a resident of the apartment building.