Loomis Guard shot and killed

[Glockster20]

Loomis Armored guard was shot and killed during a robbery at a Tacoma Wal-Mart. This is very sad... I wonder if there were any CCW folks in the store that day. Curious as to how some of you would have handled the situation had you been in the store when this unfolded...?

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Police seek two men in slaying of Lakewood armored car guard
Witnesses say robbers man shot guard in the head, fled with cash bag


Suspects in armored car robbery at Wal-Mart store at 7001 Bridgeport Way on June 2, 2009.
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Share this storyBuzz up! Brian Everstine and Stacey Mulick; The News Tribune
Published: 06/02/09 1:43 pm | Updated: 06/03/09 6:10 am
Comments (19)
Recommend (27)Police continued to search Tuesday night for two robbers sought after an armored car driver was shot and killed inside the Lakewood Wal-Mart store, sending customers and employees diving for safety while thieves fled with a bag of cash.

Witnesses and investigators said a robbers walked up to a Loomis Armored guard as he was leaving the store, shot him in the head and fled, along with a second man, with the cash bag he was carrying. The guard was identified as 39-year-old Kurt Husted, a 16-year veteran of the company’s Tacoma office.

A nearby man holding a small child was shot as well. The man, who had the child on his right shoulder, was wounded in the left shoulder and fell to the ground. He was taken to Tacoma General Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The child was not hurt.

The robbers’ getaway car was found abandoned in the 6600 block of South Monroe Street in Tacoma shortly after 3 p.m.. Police continued to hunt for the pair into the night.

One was about 6 feet tall, average build and wore a white hat with colored trim across the bill, a long sleeve white shirt and black pants. The second is 6 feet to 6 feet 2 and wore a blue baseball hat, blue jeans and a blue short sleeve button up shirt over a white T-shirt.

The two entered the store at 7001 Bridgeport Way about 1:30 p.m. while one Loomis guard was and his partner waited in the truck parked near the main entrance.

Patti O’Callahan of University Place was near the front of the store, shopping for baby clothes, when she heard shots fired nearby.

“About two minutes after I walked in, I heard the gun go off,” she said. “Everybody was screaming and running all over the store. They were trying to find crevices to hide in.”

Lisa Potter Maul arrived at the customer service area of the store moments after the shooting and walked into chaos.

“I was just walking in the door and two men ran past me,” she said. “There was a lot of people trying to get out.”

She saw a man lying on his stomach with a pool of blood around his head.

“I was just freaked,” she said. “I thought it was something fake.”

A witness who posted information on The News Tribune’s Web site described seeing the guard shot.

“He had no chance to defend himself,” the writer said. “It happened too quick. I see it over and over again each time I close my eyes. ... He had people around him in the last minutes of his life that cared. I wish I could have helped.”

Charo Canto, a Swiss citizen visiting friends in Tacoma, said she went into the store to buy mineral water and heard the gunfire.

“I thought it was something big – like 9/11,” she said through her friend, Cecilia Cotten, who was interpreting.

Canto said she patted herself to make sure she wasn’t wounded, and “gave thanks to God” that she was OK.

The robbers ran from the front of the store to a white 1993 Buick Skylark in the parking lot. Officers later found the car, which was reported stolen April 20 in Tacoma, abandoned at South 66th and Monroe streets. Police dogs searched the area and were not able to find the man.

After the shooting store employees quickly opened emergency exits at the back of the building and customers and employees fled outside. The parking lot filled with customers and employees, telling officers what they had seen.

Tacoma police, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, University Place police and a Washington State Patrol airplane helped Lakewood police investigate and control the scene. Bridgeport Way was closed for about two hours, causing backups across the area. Nearby Mount Tahoma High School was locked down as a precaution.

Loomis spokesman Pat Flaherty said all employees carry handguns whileon duty and, though it wasn’t required, Husted wore a bullet-proof vest. A Loomis employee was shot and killed last year in New Jersey, the first such shooting in at least seven years, he said.

“We’re very distraught at the loss and at the senselessness of this killing,” he said

 

[S&WM&P40]

That's vary sad and i feel sorry for everyone involved. But i have to ask How are the guards in other members states? I ask because the guards from Loomis that pick up the money here at the super center walmart in my town. Walk around with not no clue as to whats going on around them. They never look behind them or even around them to see who is around and if something may be out of place. On top of that they are the most unprofessional looking armored car guards i have ever seen. It's like they have no dress code or if they do they do not follow it. One guy never has his hair looking neat it's more of a free style look ( like wake up and just go to work look). Then his shirt is never in his pants it's always half in half out.They never have vasts on and if they do it' over their uniform. Then walking out of the store the one guard carrying the money is even more numb to whats going on around him. Then the guy in the truck is always looking the other way when he comes out so he would be no help if someone was behind the guy. But again maybe this is just in my area. As for what i would do if this happened when i as at the store. I really do not know what i would do to tell you the truth. It's not like it's a mass killing going on and people are going to die whole sale. I would have to think about the facts, How many people are around/maybe in the line of fire of my rounds and his, Whats the back stop? Is my family safe and in side the store so they will not get hit? If all the things above looked good, I have a good back stop for my bullets to hit and not kill anyone, If i can get him into a spot in the parking lot with out a lot of people around. Then i may try and stop him i SAY MAY. Because I'M not rambo and I'm not a rent a cop and even more people may get hurt or killed in a gun fight with the robber. Now if your asking if i saw the robber raising up his gun to the guards head about to shoot then i would step in and end it before anyone gets killed. Again my job as a sheep dog is to keep the sheep safe not endanger them by being some cowboy and starting a gun fight in the middle of a packed store. But this is just me I"m sure the rest of you would do it your way.

 

[Glockster20]

SA

Situational awareness should be practiced by everyone... especially in that line of work! These were brazen criminals to walk into a crowded store and execute an armed guard! These guys would have killed anyone who got in their way! It appears that everyone did right by trying to get out of harms way. Being a good witness in these situations is critical.

 

[HK4U]

Situational awareness should be practiced by everyone... especially in that line of work! These were brazen criminals to walk into a crowded store and execute an armed guard! These guys would have killed anyone who got in their way! It appears that everyone did right by trying to get out of harms way. Being a good witness in these situations is critical.

What would I do? Hard to say until it happens but I think I would not do anything over someone elses money. When the killing starts though that changes everything.

 

[GeneralSumter]

WWID? Agree with the others, I would hunker down where I was with my hand on my holstered pistol, but not drawn. I imagine after the first and only shot that the robbers ran out in a hurry. Shooting a moving target with a rifle/shotgun is hard enough so I would not attempt.

That being said, why didn't they say what race these guys were to help in the man hunt? White, black, hispanic? Or is it not PC to say? First time I've seen a news article that didn't say (even though they knew height and clothes for both BGs).

 

[MADnMO]

+1 for being a good witness. I have witnessed a shooting before and it is not as easy as one might think.

It sounds like everything went down so fast that unless you were in the perfect spot to react there would be noting you could do.

 

[Know1]

I know that I could imagine getting FBI on them and snapping two quick headshots (I live for that moment where training pays) but I probably would have just hid under a blouse rack. It takes a lot of balls to open fire with so many around, but if a shot went off and they didnt run...watch out.

 

[FN1910]

When something like this happens we usually hear the outcry about if only there had been some CCW's around this wouldn't have happened or at least some comments would be made. Hear we have someone who not only had a gun but was wearing a bullet proof vest. All this does is prove that you don't get a gun from protection (ever heard that) you get it as an additional tool in your defensive chest. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. Your best protecive device is between your ears, the rest are just additional tools.

 

[1911 Headbanger]

When something like this happens we usually hear the outcry about if only there had been some CCW's around this wouldn't have happened or at least some comments would be made. Hear we have someone who not only had a gun but was wearing a bullet proof vest. All this does is prove that you don't get a gun from protection (ever heard that) you get it as an additional tool in your defensive chest. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't. Your best protecive device is between your ears, the rest are just additional tools.

Yeah, I've known some of these guys over the years. Many of them get laxed or routine after being on the job a while. It only takes a few seconds of being inattentive when getting out of or going back and fourth to the truck, to get smoked.

 

[rforgy]

the description leaves a lot to be desired, like were they white, black, brown, green, what color hair etc.

Sounds like it was planned in advance, stole car knew to shoot in head not vest etc.

 

[Austin]

In Oklahoma you cannot assist (with a CCL) unless you can articulate that your life or your families lives are in danger.

As a LEO I can assist, but as a CCL I cannot.

The exception to this is that if you are temporarily deputized by a sworn LEO.

If it was an actual cop you might be able to assist though, there is a clause about that somewhere. I will try to find it. But, even then the officer might just see you as another tango with a gun.

 

[Glockster20]

black

the description leaves a lot to be desired, like were they white, black, brown, green, what color hair etc.

Sounds like it was planned in advance, stole car knew to shoot in head not vest etc.

Robbery/murder suspects are black males. Wal-Mart security cameras got some pretty good pictures.

 

[Glock Fan]

Here's the latest.....

4 Arrested in Killing of Washington Armored Car Guard

Posted: Thursday, June 4, 2009
Updated: June 4th, 2009 09:27 AM GMT-05:00


The Associated Press

LAKEWOOD, Wash. --

Four people have been arrested in the "cold-blooded" slaying of an armored car guard as he carried a money bag out of a Wal-Mart, police said Wednesday. One suspect was a Wal-Mart employee on duty during the robbery.

A man believed to be the gunman and another man were arrested Wednesday, Lakewood police Lt. Heidi Hoffman said. Two earlier arrests include the suspected getaway driver and a woman who was working at the Wal-Mart during the robbery Tuesday afternoon, she told a news conference.

All four were arrested for investigation of homicide, robbery and assault. Police did not identify them but said more arrests were possible.

Loomis security guard Kurt Husted was shot in the head while leaving an Anchor Bank branch inside the Wal-Mart in this south Tacoma suburb. The same bullet also wounded a customer.

Hoffman said surveillance video of the robbery makes it clear the shooter made no attempt to take the money without violence.

"They just walked up and executed him," she said. "It was very violent, very cold-blooded."

Police recovered about two-thirds of the money that was taken along with a handgun that is being tested. Hoffman wouldn't specify the amount.

The male customer wounded in the shooting told KIRO-TV he was with his 15-month-old son when he heard the shot and felt a bullet strike him.

"It was just straight cold," Wilbert Pina said of the killing. "They didn't give the guy a chance. They shot him, the bullet went through him, smacked me in the shoulder."

A Wal-Mart spokesman declined to comment on an employee's alleged involvement.

"Obviously, it's a senseless act of violence," said spokesman Greg Rossiter in a telephone interview from Bentonville, Ark. "Our condolences go out to the guard's family."

The 39-year-old Husted had worked 16 years for Houston-based Loomis, and was wearing a bulletproof vest, company spokesman Pat Flaherty said.

"We mourn deeply the loss of Kurt Husted," his family said in a statement released to KING5-TV. "He was a wonderful, caring person whom we loved deeply and will miss forever."


gf

 

[fleachm]

current loomis employee

That's vary sad and i feel sorry for everyone involved. But i have to ask How are the guards in other members states? I ask because the guards from Loomis that pick up the money here at the super center walmart in my town. Walk around with not no clue as to whats going on around them. They never look behind them or even around them to see who is around and if something may be out of place. On top of that they are the most unprofessional looking armored car guards i have ever seen. It's like they have no dress code or if they do they do not follow it. One guy never has his hair looking neat it's more of a free style look ( like wake up and just go to work look). Then his shirt is never in his pants it's always half in half out.They never have vasts on and if they do it' over their uniform. Then walking out of the store the one guard carrying the money is even more numb to whats going on around him. Then the guy in the truck is always looking the other way when he comes out so he would be no help if someone was behind the guy. But again maybe this is just in my area. As for what i would do if this happened when i as at the store. I really do not know what i would do to tell you the truth. It's not like it's a mass killing going on and people are going to die whole sale. I would have to think about the facts, How many people are around/maybe in the line of fire of my rounds and his, Whats the back stop? Is my family safe and in side the store so they will not get hit? If all the things above looked good, I have a good back stop for my bullets to hit and not kill anyone, If i can get him into a spot in the parking lot with out a lot of people around. Then i may try and stop him i SAY MAY. Because I'M not rambo and I'm not a rent a cop and even more people may get hurt or killed in a gun fight with the robber. Now if your asking if i saw the robber raising up his gun to the guards head about to shoot then i would step in and end it before anyone gets killed. Again my job as a sheep dog is to keep the sheep safe not endanger them by being some cowboy and starting a gun fight in the middle of a packed store. But this is just me I"m sure the rest of you would do it your way.[/QUOTE



Sorry to hear your guard has such a unproffesional look to him/her. I'm NOT trying to be rude here, but.... Try jumping in and out of a vehicle carrying 50+lbs or pushing several hundred lbs. on a cart all day long and see how long it takes for your hair/clothes to get messed up. Those trucks have the worst air conditioning possible, it's like being in a hot box just melting in your uniform. If you wear a vest, it's MUCH worse! They trap the heat in, and you sweat 10 times worse! We usually start the day off looking quite professional (I do at least), but my midday on a hot day, you kinda look like you fell outta the truck and it ran you over a couple times! About them not looking around, that is just stupid on their part. I try to always look at every person I pass, and constantly look behind me. Kinda weird cause I do that when I'm not working too now, just habit I guess. Sounds like your guys need to come down to our branch and get some training. We have a couple idiots that I work with that just look at the ground all day and drag their bag along....I'm sure they'll get robbed one of these days, and that's just sad cause we were all trained better than that. You could call the local branch of your armored guy and tell them about his/her appearance, and how they don't seem to look around, driver is not paying attention....management will hopefully talk to them before we have another tragedy in our company. Let me just say this, our job is VERY difficult, we dont' get paid much more then you, and we have A LOT of people on the street harrasing us everyday, yet every time we get out of that truck we have to assume someone might have a gun pointed at us, so be kind to your messenger and hopefully he/she will be good to you!