Man Slain in Laurel Canyon Home Invasion Robbery

As his wife and teenage son watched, a Florida man who was in town to celebrate his wedding anniversary was shot to death while trying to subdue an armed robber at a Laurel Canyon home, officials said Thursday.

Martin David Vaughn and his family had returned to his brother-in-law’s home after attending a performance at the Hollywood Bowl on Wednesday night. When they parked in the driveway shortly before midnight, they were confronted by a man with an assault rifle, police said.

After forcing the family into the house at gunpoint, the man robbed the family of jewelry and cash, said Los Angeles Police Officer Charlotte Broughton.

When the 46-year-old Vaughn tried to stop the gunman during the robbery, the robber shot him several times, police said. Vaughn died at the scene, Broughton said.

Police said they do not yet know whether the killer followed the family home or was waiting there when they arrived.

Neighbors near the residence in the 9100 block of Wonderland Avenue reported hearing three or four shots.

Darrell Zwerling, who has lived on Wonderland since 1974, said Thursday that he awoke from sleep to hear two shots.

“I heard a man yelling, and then it stopped awhile and then I heard a woman yelling, ‘Help! Help!’ ” Zwerling said. “It’s terribly frightening to know that anyone could be [lying] in wait.”

The Vaughns, residents of Sebring, Fla., were in Los Angeles to visit Mrs. Vaughn’s brother, celebrate their anniversary and visit colleges in the area with their 17-year-old son.

The gunman, who fled, was described as dark-haired, in his late teens to early 20s, about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, wearing a knit cap. The suspect may be Latino, police said.

The house where Vaughn was killed is at the end of a bumpy dirt road. On Thursday afternoon, a paper grocery bag sat in front, filled with yellow police crime scene tape, as neighbors gathered to talk about the tragedy.

Wonderland resident Joseph Bloch ticked off a list of several murders he recalls on the street over the last 20 years--including a 1981 incident in which four people in a notorious “drug den” were bludgeoned to death.

The notion that his is a safe and exclusive neighborhood is “horse manure,” he said.

“There are drug deals every night up here,” he said, gesturing to a 30-by-60-foot, litter-strewn dirt patch with a sweeping view of the city perhaps 50 yards from the crime scene. “We’re all afraid to walk up here at night.”