Police make six arrests in murders of private security officers in just one month
Charlotte NC July 1 2021 During the past six weeks, eleven security officers have been murdered on duty. All but two died from gunfire.
Police now have arrested six persons responsible for some of those killings including the most recent arrest of a North Carolina man who shot to death Jerry Smothers, 63 who was guarding a vacant hotel during the evening hours. Smothers laid dying on the pavement for several hours before being discovered by a relief security officer.
Dahsir Thomas Welch, 22, is charged with first-degree murder after he shot Smothers in the head before stealing his wallet and vehicle.
Long Beach California police charged a 31-year-old man Monday in the death of a security officer known by residents at a Long Beach housing complex for his kind greetings and warm smile that brightened the day.
Derrick Smith, 54, was struck and killed Saturday when a hit-and-run driver crashed into his guard shack.
Police arrested 31-year-old Quentin Darnell Black, of Moreno Valley, in connection with the crash. He was booked on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of felony hit-and-run resulting in death or injury. Bail was set at $100,000.
NYPD officers arrested a man within an hour after the shooting death of Jermaine Jones, a security officer who was shot to death at an apartment complex. Police believe the security officer had asked the man to turn down the music in his car when he was shot.
Indiana police and the FBI along with other law enforcement agencies captured two men wanted in the murder of a Gary Indiana security officer during a bank robbery.
55-year-old Richard Castellana, a retired law enforcement officer was ambushed in the parking lot of a bank and killed just prior to the men executing a bank robbery.
James King, 24, faces murder and robbery charges in connection to the case. The suspect from Miami Florida was found hiding in the woods nearby with thousands of dollars in cash. Another man has also been arrested for the murder and bank robbery. Hailey Gist-Holden, of Gary, Indiana was captured several weeks after the shooting and robbery. Both men face the death penalty.
A security officer who was on duty at the Quik Trip Convenience store was gunned down after asking a man to leave the property. The Wichita Police Department has arrested 41-year-old Laroy West of Wichita on suspicion of first-degree murder and criminal possession of a firearm stemming from the shooting of Will Robinson who was also a former police officer.
A total of 43 security officers have been murdered and 127 others shot during the first six months of 2018.
Violence against security officers has reason more than 500% compared to this time in 2020 and 2019 according to Private Officer International, a private security and law enforcement organization based in Charlotte NC.
