GUNSHOT VICTIM RECALLS KILLING OF CO-WORKER.

Byline: Orith Goldberg Staff Writer

Teresa Cano isn't sure she'll go back to work, not after seeing her co-worker gunned down in cold blood this weekend at a Newhall market.

Hospitalized herself with a bullet wound to her stomach, the 41-year-old mother of two acknowledged Monday she's lucky to be alive, but doesn't want to test that luck.

``I don't think I'll go back,'' she said, wriggling in her hospital bed, trying to find a comfortable position without aggravating her wound. ``This time I was lucky. . . . Next time, I don't know.''

Cano stared straight ahead Monday as she recalled the events of Saturday night, when she and co-worker Luis Valdez, 32, of Panorama City were shot. Valdez was mortally wounded.

It was about 10:30 p.m. when two masked men - at least one armed with a gun - burst into a back office at Tresierras Market and ordered her to open a safe.

Cano speculated that the robbers were in the San Fernando Road store when the doors were locked for the evening at 10 p.m., and hid inside a refrigerator.

They ordered Cano, an assistant manager, to open the safe. She managed to get the first of three doors to the safe open, then co-worker Luis Valdez took over. Kneeling on the floor, Valdez opened the second door as Cano sat nearby. He couldn't open the third door because the safe had a timing mechanism, but when he and Cano tried to explain, one of the men fired, Cano recalled.

``He started to shoot at us,'' Cano said. ``I was shocked. I couldn't believe what happened.''

It was the second time this year Tresierras was robbed. An armed man had robbed the store March 3, but that time there were no injuries. A suspect was arrested but was later released because he could not be positively identified, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Tim Peters. The two robberies do not appear to be related, Peters said.

Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Mark Savage said both gunshot victims were rushed to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital. Valdez was pronounced dead at the hospital at 12:36 a.m. Sunday. He suffered from multiple gunshot wounds, said Robert Fierro, an investigator with the county coroner's office.

Cano expects to remain at the hospital for at least another week.

Store manager Elva Arevlo said she arrived at the store late Saturday after she was contacted by authorities.

``This is the first time something like this has happened to us,'' she said outside the store Monday. ``We don't know how the robbers got in or out.''

Arevlo said while there is already security at the store, it will be beefed up as a result of the robbery.

Cano has worked at the store for about 12 years. Valdez was there at least 10 years, co-workers said.

The Newhall store was the fourth of five stores opened in the grocery chain. Two other stores are located in Pacoima, one in Sun Valley and one in Santa Paula.

The robbers remained at large on Monday.

The robbery was the first of three to occur in the area over the weekend.

On Sunday, about 1:30 p.m., a store manager at Wendy's was assaulted and robbed in the parking lot of the store, in the 27500 block of The Old Road.

Manager Stan Andrus was going to make a bank deposit and heading to his car when a man in a stocking cap approached him and hit him, knocking him out. The robber made off with several thousand dollars, authorities said.

Later that day, a delivery driver for Domino's Pizza was robbed after being threatened with a bat in the 23000 block of Valle del Oro in Newhall.

The driver had stopped at a condominium unit to deliver a pizza. While asking for directions, a man stopped him, demanded money and threatened him with a baseball bat. The driver gave the robber money, went to the designated location to deliver the pizza and notified authorities.