Pleasanton Home Depot Shooting: Charges Filed, New Details Revealed

PLEASANTON, CA — The two people accused in Tuesday’s fatal Pleasanton Home Depot shooting have now been charged with multiple felonies and appeared in court Friday for the first time following their arrests. Meanwhile, new court documents reveal several additional details regarding the timeline of the shooting, the getaway and arrests.

Benicia Knapps, 32, who is accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old loss prevention employee Blake Mohs, has been charged with first-degree murder, child endangerment, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Knapps claimed that she fired the gun accidentally, according to recently released court documents from the Alameda County District Attorney.

David Guillory, 31, who is accused of recklessly driving the getaway car at speeds of over 90 mph on the freeway and driving the wrong way down a one-way street, has been charged with felony reckless evasion, child endangerment, evading an officer by driving opposite to traffic, accessory to robbery, and resisting arrest, documents indicate.

Each of the two suspects has prior convictions on their record, according to the district attorney's office.

Guillory served a prison term in June 2015 in Solano County for unlawful sexual intercourse, and in September 2013 for first-degree burglary in Santa Clara County, according to court documents. Knapps was on probation for grand theft exceeding $950 in December 2014 in San Joaquin County, and was prohibited from possessing a firearm.

Both Guillory and Knapps appeared in court Friday at 9 a.m. for arraignment, but information related to how they pleaded was not immediately available.

Knapps was just booked into Santa Rita Jail at 1:02 a.m. Friday, having spent days in the hospital following the shooting, according to jail logs. Her bail was set at $100,000, but she is being held without bail as of Monday afternoon. Guillory is also in custody at Santa Rita, and his bail is set for $325,000.

According to a report from ABC7, Knapp tried to take her own life after she was taken into police custody. As she sat in the back of a patrol car for about 10 minutes, she'd managed to wrap the seatbelt around her neck three times.

Alameda County Sherriff's Lt. Tea Modeste told ABC7 that a deputy "noticed that [Knapps] was kind of slouched down in the seat and so he opened the back door and called her name and her body was limp, she was unresponsive."

Two deputies then worked to free the woman's airway. Deputies were able to sit her up, push her head back, and untangle the seatbelt from her neck, Modeste told ABC7. While she was on the ground, she reportedly took a deep breath and regained consciousness.

As Knapps and Guillory prepare to answer to charges, authorities have released more information related to what happened just prior to the deadly shooting at the 6000 Johnson Drive Home Depot.

Video surveillance footage shows Knapps selecting a large yellow Dewalt box and exiting the store around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday without paying for it, according to a sworn statement from Pleasanton Police Department Officer Mark Sheldon.

In a declaration in support of arrest warrants, Sheldon said the video showed Knapps was confronted by Mohs and another Home Depot employee in the parking lot outside. Mohs then wrestled the box from Knapps. At that point, Knapps allegedly took a gun from her purse. Video shows her with a gun in her right hand, at which point Mohs and the other employee ran toward the store. Once Mohs arrived in the store, he turned toward Knapps, and another struggle over the item ensued. She was then seen shooting Mohs at point-blank range. Mohs then let go of the item, and Knapps got into a red, 1996 Nissan Pathfinder.

Sheldon said that Knapps admitted that she was the person in the video who stole the items and was confronted by loss prevention, court documents indicate. She also admitted to being in possession of a gun, but reportedly told Sheldon that she fired it accidentally.

At about 2:22 p.m., the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office was advised to look out for a red Pathfinder involved in a shooting that was last seen headed westbound on I-580 near Eden Canyon Road, according to a sworn statement from ASCO Deputy Chase Swalwell. Deputies located the car in Castro Valley and attempted to pull the driver over. However, the driver did not stop, and proceeded to drive the wrong way down a one-way street before getting back onto westbound 580.

Once on the freeway, Guillory weaved in and out of traffic at over 90 mph, and at times drove on the shoulder to pass other cars, according to the statement. Police said the front passenger door of the car appeared to be severely damaged, and swayed open.

Guillory exited the freeway at Golf Links Road in Oakland, where he allegedly ran a red light. He continued to speed down Golf Links Road, sometimes crossing over the solid line into the opposite lane in order to pass other cars. He eventually drove the car to 7950 Ney Avenue, where he fled on foot into an apartment complex, according to Swalwell's declaration.

Knapps exited the vehicle holding a 21-month-old baby, which she reportedly appeared to have been holding during the fast chase, right next to a door that was swinging open. She was detained without incident, and Guillory was detained about 12 minutes later.

Once the car was stopped, Knapps was seen handing the baby to her grandmother.

Both Knapps and Guillory are being charged for reckless child endangerment, given that the baby was not in any kind of car seat.

Mohs, who was rushed to Eden Hospital in Castro Valley, succumbed to his injuries. Mohs is being remembered as a “great guy” who volunteered for the Boy Scouts and Eagle Scouts, and hoped to be a police officer. He was due to be married in August at Camp Royaneh, the same campsite where he met his fiancée when they were both volunteering, according to an ABC7 interview with his mother, and a now defunct wedding website.

Lorie Mohs told ABC7 that her son loved the Boy Scouts, Disney, his family and his community. "Just because he's not here right now doesn't mean that all those lives, all the people that he touched aren't going to pass that forward. Blake had a short life - only 26 years but he lived it," she said.

"We lost one of the good ones," his father Eric added.