A young Home Depot security guard lost his life earlier this week trying to thwart a robbery at the store where he worked.
On Tuesday afternoon, 26-year-old Blake Mohs was working his usual shift as a loss prevention employee at a Home Depot in Pleasanton, California, about 30 miles southeast of Oakland. At about 2:15 p.m., Mohs spotted a woman whom he suspected might be trying to pilfer a phone charger, an item which likely cost less than $100.
Mohs confronted the woman and a “struggled [sic] ensued.” Mohs then chased the woman, later identified as 32-year-old Benicia Knapps, out to the loading dock of the store. There, the suspect drew a gun and fired at Mohs before jumping into a getaway car and fleeing the scene. Mohs, who was struck in the shooting and was found bleeding heavily outside the store, was quickly transported to a nearby hospital. He later died from his injuries.
Mohs, a dedicated Boy Scout leader, had planned to marry his fiancée, Kasey, in early August. The couple met five years ago when they were both volunteering at Camp Royaneh, a Scout camp located about 90 miles north of San Francisco.
“They looked at each other, and they had seen each other for a long time, but then they saw each other differently,” recalled Lorie Mohs, Blake’s mother. “And almost five years later, they were planning a wedding and a future.”
Mohs began his journey with the Boy Scouts when he was just 14. He was so committed to the Scouts that within a few years, he became an Eagle Scout, the highest distinction within the organization.
“We lost one of the good ones,” said Eric Mohs, Blake’s father.
While Blake’s family and fiancée struggle with their grief, his alleged killer, Benicia Knapps, tried and failed to evade capture. She reportedly left the Home Depot in a car with her boyfriend, 31-year-old David Guillory, behind the wheel and her 2-year-old child in the backseat. Someone from the vehicle may have tossed the murder weapon out a window, as deputies later recovered a gun at an intersection near where the incident occurred.
Just 15 minutes after the shooting, the couple was apprehended in Oakland. While in the backseat of the police cruiser, Knapps reportedly choked herself unconscious with a seatbelt. As a result, she was placed on a mental hold when booked into a detention facility in Alameda County. Her child was placed in the care of other relatives.
Knapps, herself a licensed security guard with a history of theft, faces charges of murder, robbery, child endangerment, and conspiracy. Her boyfriend, Guillory, faces charges of child endangerment, evading police, and driving the wrong way.
“I am devastated by the loss of Blake Mohs in yesterday’s senseless shooting,” said Mayor Karla Brown of Tri-Valley, an area which includes Pleasanton. “Through his service to Tri-Valley organizations, Blake was a model for others. 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.”
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