Walmart Security Guard Shoots At Getaway Driver
FRANKLIN, WI April 17 2019— Police in Franklin say a Walmart security guard shot a gun at a Milwaukee man as he tried getting away with a hoverboard and a scooter.
That man, police say, is a suspect in 23 other retail theft cases in the area between December and April.
Louis W. McKenzie, 36, faces three counts of retail theft, and two bail jumping charges. He’s currently being held in the Milwaukee County Jail. His initial appearance is scheduled for May 6.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County, officers were dispatched to the Walmart on 27th Street near the Oak Creek-Franklin border on a report of a firearm being discharged near the store.
Investigators in their report said they reviewed store surveillance footage of the incident, in which McKenzie loaded a hoverboard and a motorized scooter into a shopping cart, and exited the store without paying.
Police said McKenzie then got into a silver Ford Escape waiting for him in the parking lot.
According to the criminal complaint, it was at that time, a Walmart prevention officer confronted McKenzie. An eyewitness told police seeing the security officer demand that McKenzie drop the items.
Reports stated McKenzie ignored the security officer, and began to drive away. At that point, reports indicated, the security officer pulled out a gun and shot at the car as it drove away with McKenzie and the stolen merchandise.
The total amount for the scooter was $249 and the amount for the Hoover board was $198, police noted.
When police caught up to the getaway driver in the Ford Focus later at his residence, he told officers that he dropped McKenzie off at the store in exchange for some money and a pack of cigarettes. He waited in the parking lot for about 20 minutes until he came out of the store with items in a shopping cart. That’s when he saw the Walmart employee shoot at his car as he was trying to get away, according to information recorded in the criminal complaint.
Police say an officer was able to identify McKenzie in the Walmart theft through surveillance video because she arrested him several days prior for a robbery at the local Seven-Eleven.
McKenzie stands accused of other retail thefts and faces felony retail thefts, police say, including:
An incident at the Meijer in Wauwatosa in which he is accused of stealing a $289 television and a $379 vacuum cleaner.
Another incident on March 16 in which he is accused of stealing a total of $817 in work tools from the Wauwatosa Home Depot.
