1 DEAD, 1 HURT IN VAN NUYS SHOOTING.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

VAN NUYS - A customer shot an auto parts store manager and critically wounded a clerk Sunday after he was barred from returning $20 worth of merchandise, police and witnesses said.

The gunman shot the employees about 1:35 p.m. inside the Auto Zone at 16500 Sherman Way, Los Angeles police spokesman Don Cox said.

``Apparently, the guy went in the first time to transact some business and couldn't do it,'' Cox said. ``He came back a half-an-hour later and plugs both of them.''

Police are searching for Byron Jackson, 40, of Van Nuys, described as a 5-foot-10-inch African-American man weighing 170 pounds and driving a light blue 1994 Dodge Dakota extra cab pickup (license plate No. 6M29885).

A freelance photographer told CBS (Channel 2) that a customer got in a dispute with employees over trying to return some brake pads valued at $20. He left, then returned about a half-hour later with a gun and opened fire.

Other witnesses related similar accounts to ABC (Channel 7) and KCAL (Channel 9), saying as many as five shots were fired.

Auto Zone manager Carlos Avalos, 44, of Van Nuys died in the store. His 34-year-old clerk, Francisco Mercado, was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in grave condition late Sunday with a shot to the head, said hospital spokeswoman Lysa Barry.

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