Just shoot a few shoplifters...

Man fatally shot while confronting shoplifter at Bay Area Home Depot, police say

Amy Graff

A worker at a California Bay Area Home Depot Store died after being shot as he was trying to stop a shoplifter inside the store on Tuesday, officials said. Two suspects are in custody according to the Pleasanton Police Department. 

Police dispatch received a report at 2:15 p.m. of a man bleeding inside the at the Pleasanton Square Shopping Center store at 6000 Johnson Drive and officers rushed to the scene, the department said. Officers provided medical aid and the man was transported to a local hospital. KTVU reported that the man died hours after the shooting.

In an email to SFGATE, Home Depot identified the man in a statement as a sales associate named Blake. The company wrote, "We’re heartbroken over this senseless tragedy ... our hearts go out to his family and everyone who knew and loved him."

At the scene, witnesses told police that the man "attempted to stop a theft in progress, wherein a struggle ensued, and the man was shot," according to the police report. Witnesses also said the suspects sped off in a car. Only 15 minutes later, deputies with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office stopped a vehicle that matched the description near the 7000 block of Ney Avenue in Oakland and detained the suspects, according to the report. Police told the East Bay Times that two suspects, a man and a woman, were apprehended.