Celebration Ended in Tragedy for Shootout Victim’s Family

Her parents had just celebrated their 10th anniversary in Las Vegas. Now, Amanda Robertson wanted a treat for herself: an ice cream from McDonald’s.

Her parents pulled into the Barstow Station rest stop to oblige--and found themselves caught in a shootout between a desperate parolee and an off-duty police officer.

Bullets flew.

One struck Amanda in the head.

The sunny 9-year-old, known for her love of jokes and Girl Scouts and baseball, was killed immediately.

“She was a good little girl,” sobbed Kim Shilling, the mother of Amanda’s best friend. “She didn’t deserve this to happen to her.”

Authorities investigating the shootout said Tuesday that security videos showed the bullet that struck Amanda came from the gun of Kenneth Harold Lemond, 25, a twice-convicted robber recently released on parole.

Lemond had apparently been trying to rob the McDonald’s on Monday afternoon. Slipping in through the employee entrance, masked and armed, he managed to get his hands on some cash, Barstow police said.

But then an off-duty officer waiting in line noticed the commotion. He tried to shepherd frightened customers to safety.

“The suspect suddenly ran to the counter area where the officer was standing,” Barstow Cpl. Richard A. Harpole said. “[The officer] identified himself as a policeman and the gunfire started. I can’t tell you yet who fired first.”

Amanda was standing about 30 feet behind the police officer when she was killed.

The officer, who was not identified, then shot Lemond several times, police said. The suspect died a few hours later at a local hospital.

“During the robbery, everybody tried to get out and they ran,” Cammie Atherton, the girl’s aunt, told Associated Press. “Amanda didn’t make it. “

The tragedy occurred just a week after the Robertson family had moved to San Diego County from the tiny town of Spring Bay, Ill., moving in with relatives in Escondido for the time being. Amanda’s father, a heating and air-conditioning technician, hoped to find good work in California. Her mother, a paralegal, was preparing to enter law school.

The move was so recent that Amanda, a third-grader, was not yet enrolled in school.

She did, however, have time to write a letter to her best friend back in Springfield, telling her how much she missed and loved her.

“My daughter was going to mail a letter back to her today,” Shilling said. “We can’t mail it now.” Instead, Shilling’s daughter has made a friendship bracelet for Amanda, who will be buried in Spring Bay.

At the Escondido home where the Robertsons had been staying, family and friends gathered to mourn. A neighbor, Kathy Auer, said the family moved to California because “they hoped this would be a better neighborhood for kids.”

Amanda’s parents remained in seclusion Tuesday. Her father, Troy Robertson, made only a brief public comment: “She was a very sweet girl. She didn’t deserve to die.”

Amanda’s death stunned not only her friends and family, but also residents of Barstow, a desert town of about 18,000 halfway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

“The things you have [often] in Los Angeles really hit home to us,” said Ben Rosenberg, the owner of Barstow Station. “This is not a normal thing for us. We feel the less said about it . . . the better.”

Along with the McDonald’s, Barstow Station offers a bakery, liquor store and stationery shop; it draws thousands of tourists a day. The center was closed Tuesday, but Rosenberg said the stores should reopen today.

Barstow police, meanwhile, praised the actions of the unidentified officer who engaged Lemond in the gunfight.

“Because the officer took action, he may have avoided more bloodshed,” Harpole said. Asked if the officer was a hero, Harpole said: “As far as I’m concerned, he is.”

Lemond was convicted on two counts of robbery in San Bernardino County in October 1992 and was sentenced to six years in prison, state Department of Corrections records show. A few months later, he was convicted of another San Bernardino County robbery.

Times staff writer Tony Perry, Times correspondent Renee Martin and the Associated Press contributed to this story.