Retired Police Captain Shot in Buena Park Florist Shop

A retired police captain was shot in the head and chest in his Buena Park florist shop Monday when he refused a robber’s demand to hand over his money and his wife’s purse, authorities said.

Robert Coovert, 56, a Buena Park resident who served on the city’s police force for 11 years, was listed in “serious to critical” condition Monday night after surgery at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, according to a nursing supervisor at the hospital.

Confronted by Robber

Buena Park police spokesman Rich McMillen said Coovert and his wife, Betty, were confronted in Garrick’s Flowers, the florist shop in the 6000 block of Orangethorpe Avenue, about 1:20 p.m. by a robber who demanded that the couple sit on chairs in the back of the store and turn over all their cash and Betty Coovert’s purse.

Betty Coovert told investigators that her husband was shot when he refused, McMillen said.

Buena Park Police Chief Robert Reber and other officers, alarmed at word of the shooting, rushed to the Cooverts’ shop on Orangethorpe Avenue to assist in the investigation. But no suspect had been arrested by late Monday night, police said.

Coovert, who retired from the department in 1973, still is well known around the Buena Park police station because of his participation on the force’s bowling league and numerous civic and departmental functions, Buena Park Police Lt. Tony Kelley said. Coovert, who worked for 7 years as a Compton police officer before joining the Buena Park Police Department, has four sons, two of whom are police officers in Buena Park and Brea.

“If people didn’t know him from working with him back then, they certainly know him from all the time he’s spent around the station and in the community,” Kelley said. “He’s a real well-liked individual.”

Kelley said several officers were shocked when they heard of the shooting “because here’s a man who spends 18 years as a cop and nothing like this happens to him and then after he retires he gets shot.”

Detectives, who still were searching for the robber late Monday night, have not determined how much money was stolen, McMillen said. Coovert and his wife have owned the store for about 15 years, he said.

Hours of Surgery

McMillen said Coovert underwent several hours of surgery at Western Medical Center for wounds to his head, kidneys and spleen. One of the bullets struck very near to Coovert’s left eye but there was no sign of any damage to his brain, McMillen said. One of the former officer’s kidneys and his spleen were removed.

“He’s a strong sort of a guy, stocky, well-built . . . a tenacious person,” Kelley said. “I think that he’s pretty committed to standing up for himself. He certainly wouldn’t be the guy I’d pick to rob.”