Home Depot Loss Prevention Employee Fatally Shot By Shoplifter Who Fled With 2-Year-Old Child In Car: Cops

A Home Depot employee who tried to stop a shoplifter in northern California's Bay Area paid for it with his life.

Police in Pleasanton believe Blake Mohs, 26, was shot April 18 at a back loading dock by a woman trying to walk out with an electronic device.

Police say Mohs got into a fight with the woman. She pulled out a handgun and fired.

Mohs, who worked in loss prevention, was unarmed. He died at a hospital.

“We lost a valuable member of our community, a person who served to protect his fellow coworkers and customers and was a valuable partner with law enforcement," Pleasanton Police spokesman Lt. Eric Silacci said.

Witnesses say the suspect was arrested in nearby Oakland about 20 minutes later, after a getaway car was tracked down. The San Francisco Chronicle identified her as Benicia Knapps, 32.

Authorities told KGO-TV that the alleged shoplifter's 2-year-child was in the back seat of the car. The toddler is now with other relatives, police said.

Knapps faces numerous charges, including murder, robbery and child endangerment.

Jail records reviewed by Front Page Detectives show her alleged getaway driver, David Guillory, 31, was being arraigned April 20 on charges which include child abuse and driving the wrong way to evade police.

The records did not show Knapps in the Alameda County Jail Thursday morning.

Home Depot released a statement saying it was heartbroken by the death of Mohs. He was planning a mid-August wedding.