DEALERSHIP GUARD BEATEN.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - An auto dealership's security guard was beaten over the head Sunday night by three robbers armed with handguns, deputies said.

The 58-year-old guard was treated at Antelope Valley Hospital and sent home.

Deputies said the gunmen stole the guard's keys to the Sierra Toyota dealership in the 43000 block of 12th Street West, but they didn't know what was stolen.

Deputies said the guard was walking out of the dealership showroom about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when he was confronted by the three armed men. They demanded the guard's keys to the business, then hit him several times over the head, knocking him to the ground. The guard lay still so he would not be hit again, deputies said.

In another robbery, deputies were also looking Monday for two bandits who held up a shoe store employee and stole a bank deposit bag. The robbery occurred about 9:10 a.m. in a parking lot on Valley Central Way, deputies said.

A Factory Brand Shoes employee was getting into his car with money to deposit at a bank when a man with a gun demanded the bank bag, deputies said. The gunman left in a car driven by an accomplice, deputies said.