Security officer who killed Waffle House patron failed firearm test four times
Columbia MO Jan 26 2018 The armed guard who shot and killed a Waffle House patron early New Year’s Day failed a firearms shooting test four times before he was finally issued his armed guard license by the city.
The Signal 88 Security guard who fired the fatal shot is Robert Moses, 63, who the Tribune identified by requesting public records about guard certification from the Columbia Police Department. Anyone wanting to become an armed guard must submit an application and pass a written exam and shooting test, with standards determined by the police chief. CPD records indicate Moses passed the written test with a score of 76 percent, and the shooting test with a .45-caliber Springfield XD handgun.
He also failed the shooting test four times in a row with a 9mm SCCY CPX-1 handgun, according to the CPD roster. Armed guards are only allowed to carry the weapon they use to pass the shooting exam, according to city ordinance.
Records indicate Moses last applied for his armed guard license — which are good for one year — on Nov. 21, 2017. License records provided for previous years do not list Moses, though CPD is missing some records from 2016. Records from 2017 and 2018 do not indicate Moses’ application was approved by CPD.
City ordinances do not indicate any sort of limitation on the number of times someone may attempt the written or shooting portion of the licensing process. The written exam may be repeated if failed for a fee of $25, and the shooting test may be repeated for a fee of $10, according to city code.
CPD leaders did not immediately respond to a request for clarification on the tests.
CPD records indicate 39 individuals applied in 2017 for the armed guard licenses issued by the city — Moses was one of three individuals who applied with Signal 88, which the Tribune previously identified as his employer. Moses is the only individual on the CPD guard roster with the initials R.M., which is how the guard is identified in court documents for a related case. According to documents reviewed by the Tribune, Moses failed the firearms test more times than any other applicant in 2017 who received an armed guard license.
A man by the same name as Moses also was issued a summons Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Anthony Warren, 30, the man who was shot and killed Jan. 1 at the Waffle House in north Columbia. After the shooting, the guard told a CPD officer he shot and killed Warren while he was trying to break up a fight over a gun between two other patrons, according to a probable cause statement in a related case. Several patrons including Warren were encroaching on the guard’s space, and he felt threatened, according to the filing.
The guard told police he shot Warren once to protect himself and others in the Waffle House, according to the filing. He has not been arrested, and no charges have been filed against him. Family and friends of Warren held a protest Jan. 9 outside the Waffle House calling for justice, saying the guard who shot Warren should be arrested and charged with murder.
Reached at his home on Wednesday afternoon, Moses said little to reporters, but his comments confirmed he was the guard in question and that he is still employed by Signal 88.
“How do you know it was me?” Moses said, when he opened the door to his home.
Wearing dark sweatpants, tan jacket and an ushanka, he called his boss at Signal 88 while reporters were on the porch, and put him on speaker phone. Reporters were then told to leave, because there is a pending CPD investigation into the shooting.
City law lists the standards applicants must meet before they can be issued an armed guard license, which include demonstrating “good moral character.” Applicants may have their application rejected if they have been convicted of a felony within the past 10 years or any misdemeanor involving theft, violence, drugs or sexual abuse within the past five years, according to city law.
“Any person applying for an armed guard license shall be determined by the chief to have met or exceeded adequate standards for firearms safety, knowledge of the law with regards to the use of firearms and firearms skills commensurate with public safety.” the law states. Those standards include “a score of at least 70 percent on each” exam section.
Columbia Daily Tribune
