A Bay Area Home Depot employee confronted a shoplifter. He wound up dead
A 26-year-old Home Depot employee in Pleasanton was fatally shot last week when he confronted a shoplifter inside the home improvement store, according to Alameda County officials.
Blake Mohs, 26, who worked as a loss-prevention employee at the store, was shot in the chest April 18 as he tried to stop a woman from stealing a large yellow toolbox, the Pleasanton Police Department said.
After shooting Mohs at point-blank range, the woman — later identified by authorities as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps — took the toolbox and ran outside to a waiting red Nissan Pathfinder occupied by a male driver and the woman’s small child, according to police.
The vehicle sped off, and a police pursuit ensued, with Knapps appearing to hold on to her 1-year-old in the passenger seat as the driver — identified as David Guillory, 31 — headed against traffic, with the passenger door swinging open at one point, police said.
Whole Foods Market temporarily closed its flagship store in San Francisco over concerns about employee safety. The city still has eight other locations.
Knapps and Guillory were arrested a short time later in Oakland by Alameda County sheriff’s deputies. The gun used in the shooting was recovered at a nearby intersection, authorities said.
Officers provided aid to Mohs when they arrived at the Home Depot store, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital, where he died from his injuries.
On Thursday, the Alameda County district attorney’s office charged Knapps with murder, robbery, abandonment and neglect of children, and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Guillory was charged with felony reckless evading, evading an officer by driving on the opposite side of the street, resisting arrest, and abandonment and neglect of children, according to prosecutors.
Mohs was a Tri-Valley resident who worked in community youth programs and planned to get married this summer, authorities said. He is survived by his parents, brother and fiancee.
Roughly 100 people surged into an Arco and stole snacks, drinks and other merchandise after a street takeover converged at a nearby intersection.
Pleasanton Mayor Karla Brown called Mohs’ death the result of a “senseless shooting.”
“Through his service to Tri-Valley organizations, Blake was a model for others,” Brown said in a statement.
“To have a life cut short is heartbreaking and infuriating. 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.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
