Global Courant 2023-04-20 02:44:55
A 26-year-old Home Depot employee was fatally shot after confronting an alleged shoplifter armed with a gun at a California store.
The suspected shooter was apprehended along with an alleged accomplice after they fled the crime scene in a getaway car, police said.
The shooting occurred around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday at a Home Depot in Pleasanton, San Francisco Bay Area.
Police respond to a shooting at a Home Depot in Pleasanton, California April 18, 2023.
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Blake Mohs, an unarmed burglary prevention officer, “was trying to stop a robbery when a struggle ensued,” the Pleasanton Police Department said in a statement. The female suspect was reportedly trying to leave the store with what was believed to be an electrical item when she “resisted and shot him,” police said.
Mohs later died of his injuries, police said.
“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,” said Pleasanton Lt. Erik Silacci at a press conference Wednesday.
The suspect in the shooting – identified by police as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps – was reported to have escaped in a getaway car driven by 31-year-old David Guillory, police said. Her 2-year-old child was also in the car, according to police.
The suspects were detained by deputies from the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office shortly after the incident in Oakland, and the gun believed to have been used in the shooting was recovered at a nearby intersection, police said. The child has also been reunited with relatives, police said.
Police respond to a shooting at a Home Depot in Pleasanton, California April 18, 2023.
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Guillory has been booked in the Santa Rita County Jail on charges including obstruction, evading a police officer and child abuse, prison records show.
Knapps is in a hospital for medical treatment and will be booked once she is discharged, Silacci said. Police believe she may have been hit by the getaway car after the shooting, he said.
Knapps will face charges including murder, robbery, child endangerment and conspiracy, Silacci said. Additional costs are likely, he said.
Mohs was a Tri-Valley resident who planned to get married this summer, police said.
“We are heartbroken over this senseless tragedy,” Home Depot said in a statement. “Blake was our partner and friend, and our hearts go out to his family and all who knew and loved him.”
Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown called the shooting “pointless.”
“To cut a life short is heartbreaking and infuriating,” Brown said in a statement. “I am joined by the City Council to extend our deepest condolences to Blake’s family, friends, loved ones and to all those affected by this tragedy.”
