LA PUENTE, Oct. 16 — Former Charles Manson follower Kenneth Como, 41, was ambushed and shot in the arm, just two days after he was released from prison, authorities said.

Como, who served 10 years at Folsom Prison upon his conviction for a 1971 gun store robbery, was wounded Thursday evening as he walked from his car to the mobile home in La Puente where he now lives with a relative, said Los Angeles County sheriffs Sgt. George Galeener.

“It was an ambush-type shooting,” Galeener said, adding that deputies do not know the motive for the shooting and do not have any suspects.

Como was treated and released from Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina.

Government prosecutors have said the gun store robbery in which Como was involved was part of a scheme to free Charles Manson from prison where he is serving time for the notorious 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and several other people.

Como was not charged in the Tate slayings.

Como, paroled this week from Folsom State Prison, was paid $4,000 by the state to settle a lawsuit he filed to protest X-ray searches of his body.

In the 1975 lawsuit, filed against the Department of Corrections in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Como complained the X-ray searches for contraband subjected him to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment that resulted in loss of facial and body hair.

Dave Brown, a Department of Corrections lawyer, said the Aug. 26 settlement was “based on the fact it would have been a very expensive trial and it was in the interest of the state to settle.”

U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton, who approved the settlement, had scheduled a 20-day trial to begin Feb. 23. Brown said a $4,000 check made out to Como was sent to a private attorney whose name he declined to disclose.

Como, acting as his own attorney, alleged he was X-rayed 16 times, 10 times for medical reasons, between June 1973 and April 1975. Prison authorities contended Como was subjected to contraband X-ray searches only twice, both times immediately after they discovered his cell bars had been sawed through. Neither X-ray disclosed any contraband, court records showed.

Como also alleged the rectal X-rays were conducted by untrained prison personnel who neglected to provide him with lead-lined safety devices to protect the rest of his body.