Home Depot employee fatally shot while confronting alleged shoplifter

A 26-year-old Home Depot employee was once fatally shot after confronting an alleged shoplifter armed with a handgun at a California retailer, government stated.

The suspected shooter was once detained along side an alleged companion after fleeing the scene in a getaway automotive, police stated.

The capturing passed off round 2:15 p.m. Tuesday within a Home Depot in Pleasanton, within the San Francisco Bay Area.

Blake Mohs, an unarmed loss prevention employee, “attempted to stop a theft in progress when a struggle ensued,” the Pleasanton Police Department stated in a commentary. The feminine suspect was once allegedly looking to go away the shop with what was once believed to be {an electrical} merchandise when she “resisted and shot him,” police stated.

Mohs later died from his accidents, police stated.

“Blake’s life was cut short by this senseless act of violence that started as a theft and turned into a robbery and ended in his murder,” Pleasanton Lt. Erik Silacci stated throughout a press briefing Wednesday.

The capturing suspect — recognized by means of police as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps — allegedly escaped in a getaway automotive pushed by means of David Guillory, 31, police stated. Her 2-year-old kid was once additionally within the automotive, in line with police.

The suspects have been detained in a while after the incident in Oakland by means of Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputies and the handgun believed to were used within the capturing was once recovered in a close-by intersection, police stated. The kid was once additionally reunited with kin, police stated.

Guillory has been booked into Santa Rita County Jail on fees together with obstruction, evading a police officer and kid abuse, prison information display.

Knapps is at a sanatorium receiving clinical remedy and can be booked as soon as she is discharged, Silacci stated. Police imagine she will have been struck by means of the getaway automotive following the capturing, he stated.

Knapps can be booked on fees together with homicide, theft, kid endangerment and conspiracy, Silacci stated. Additional fees might be most likely, he stated.

Mohs was once a Tri-Valley resident who deliberate to get married this summer time, police stated.

“We’re heartbroken over this senseless tragedy,” Home Depot stated in a commentary. “Blake was our associate and friend, and our hearts go out to his family and everyone who knew and loved him.”

Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown known as the capturing “senseless.”

“To have a life cut short is heartbreaking and infuriating,” Brown stated in a commentary. “I’m joined by the City Council in offering our deepest condolences to Blake’s family, friends, loved ones, and to everyone impacted by this tragedy.”