(CBS News) A Home Depot employee was shot and killed on Tuesday while trying to stop a shoplifter in Pleasanton, California, authorities said.
The victim, 26-year-old Blake Mohs, was a loss prevention employee who was a well-known member of the community, the Pleasanton Police Department said in a statement.
“During the investigation, detectives determined Mohs confronted a female shoplifter who resisted and shot him,” authorities said. “The suspect, Benicia Knapps (32), ran to a getaway car driven by a male suspect, David Guillory (31).”
Knapps’s 2-year-old child was also in the getaway car.
Authorities said they found an abandoned handgun at a nearby intersection and that the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department detained the two suspects in Oakland about 15 minutes after the shooting. The child was turned over to a relative.
Guillory was booked into Santa Rita County Jail after his arrest, Pleasanton Police Lt. Erik Silacci said at a briefing Wednesday. Knapps is receiving treatment at a medical facility for injuries related to the robbery, and will be booked into the same jail when she is released, Silacci added.
Both suspects are being booked on multiple charges, including murder, robbery, child endangerment and conspiracy. Silacci said he anticipates further charges will be added as the investigation continues.
Mohs was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
