Kroger shooting: Who did guard work for? Security company points to yet another company
Memphis TN Aug 13 2021 The big security company involved in the Kroger gas station shooting in East Memphis released a statement on Wednesday that suggests another company is responsible for what happened. The question of who exactly hired the security guard accused of homicide could become part of future litigation.
A white security guard, Gregory Livingston, faces a second-degree murder charge in the killing a Black man, Alvin Motley. A police report said Livingston argued with Motley over loud music playing in a car, then shot him.
State records show the guard had no state license, and attorneys representing the slain man’s family are calling for the corporate grocery giant and a third-party security firm to immediately start civil settlement negotiations.
The large company involved is Allied Universal, which has its main office in Santa Ana, California. A corporate fact sheet says the company has over 800,000 employees worldwide and global revenue of $18 billion.
Vanessa Showalter, a spokesperson for the company, released a statement on Wednesday that the guard, wasn’t actually hired by Allied but for a subcontractor working with Allied.
“Everyone at Allied Universal extends our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Alvin Motley, who was tragically killed in Memphis over the weekend. His loss is devastating. Allied Universal is fully cooperating with the Memphis Police Department’s investigation and will provide our full support to the prosecution of this matter to ensure that justice is served,” the statement says.
“We are conducting a thorough investigation of this incident, including a review of the third-party contractor who hired the officer involved in this incident. Effective immediately, we have terminated all business with this third-party contractor. Additionally, we have initiated a comprehensive review of every third-party contractor throughout our operations to help ensure that all of our personnel engage the public with care, compassion and professionalism.”
“As this is an active investigation, we ask that all further questions be referred to the Memphis Police Department.”
So what is the third-party contractor that employed Livingston?
In a followup email, Showalter didn’t give the name, writing, “We used a third party subcontractor who provided Allied Universal with commissioned officers for this customer.”
If the case does end up in civil court, the question of who Livingston really worked for — and who bears responsibility — could become part of the lawsuit.
Livingston remains jailed and no defense attorney is listed in online court records.
Public records offer some clues to the 54-year-old’s background.
He was previously certified as a police officer in Mississippi in July 1997 and has been inactive since August 2004, according to Robert Davis, director of the state Office of Standards & Training. His inactivity stemmed from retiring from law enforcement, Davis wrote in an email. He declined to say which agency or agencies Livingston had worked for.
Arianne “AJ” Linville, human resources director at the City of Horn Lake, said she had received a message from the city’s police chief who said Livingston had worked for the city from August 1998 to April 2001. She said she didn’t have Livingston’s exact job duties.
Efforts to reach the Horn Lake police department for clarification were not immediately successful.
Mississippi online corporation records he created a company in Abbeville, Mississippi called Praetorian Security Group LLC in 2017. It’s currently listed as dissolved.
A Facebook page for a company called Self Reliance Training Academy says it’s part of Praetorian Security Group.
“We specialize in overall functional fitness training, basic and advanced firearms training, woodland and urban survival, land navigation, and defensive tactics,” the Facebook page says.
It’s unclear how long Livingston had worked as a security guard. Tennessee law requires armed security guards to go through a certification process. Livingston had never qualified for certification in Tennessee, state spokesman Kevin Walters wrote in an email.
He had applied for a license in 2017, but didn’t complete the requirements, Walter said, and a license was never issued.
Records from the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance said Livingston had filed a new application to serve as an armed security guard on Aug. 2, five days before the shooting.
In that application, Livingston wrote he had been trained at USA Training Academy in Bartlett under instructor Donald Gregory.
Tennessee law says armed security guards must go through only 16 hours of training, and a total of 16 hours are listed on the application.
The course consisted of four hours general guard training, eight hours of classroom firearms training and four hours of marksmanship training, according to the application document.
Reached by phone on Wednesday, the instructor declined to comment.
