Posted on 11/30/2005 12:09:51 PM PST by NEMDF
November 30, 2005
Police say customers were ordered to floor
BY LYNN SAFRANEK AND KEVIN COLE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
Two teenagers were holding guns and ordering people to the floor of a Benson pawnshop Tuesday afternoon when one of the store's owners shot them, police said today.
A sign on the front door of the Benson Jewelry and Loan store reads: "Closed Wed. Nov. 29 & till further Thank you"
One of the would-be robbers, Kendall Tealer, 18, made it out of the Benson Jewelry & Loan after he was shot. He collapsed in the street and died. The other, Brandon Bowie, 17, fell inside the store. He was taken to Nebraska Medical Center in what police described Tuesday as "very critical condition."
The wife of one of the co-owners said in an interview with The World-Herald that her husband had a gun to his head before his business partner started shooting.
Omaha police provided the following account after reviewing video surveillance footage of the incident and interviewing witnesses and the store's owners:
Tealer and Bowie entered Benson Jewelry & Loan, 6113 Maple St., shortly before 3:36 p.m. One was armed with a handgun.
After ordering customers to the floor, one jumped over the counter and the other went around the counter through a swinging half-door and grabbed a shotgun.
The two then ordered co-owners Norm Sargent and Ken Blankenship, who were standing behind the counter, to the floor at gunpoint.
One co-owner then began firing at the robbers with a gun he had hidden behind the counter.
Omaha police weren't identifying which co-owner fired at the men. Sargent's wife, Beth, said Blankenship fired as one teen pointed a gun at his business partner's head. She said the two men are fine.
Tealer's body lay covered by a sheet in the eastbound lane of Maple Street, just east of the pawnshop, for several hours after the shooting was reported.
The front door of the pawnshop was shot out, and broken glass lay on the sidewalk.
This morning, the only hint of the robbery and shooting was a neon orange poster board in the window of Benson Jewelry & Loan reading: "Closed Wed. Nov. 29 (sic) & Till Further Thank You."
Merchandise inside the shop appeared perfectly in order. Windows reinforced by metal grates were intact and no blood was seen inside or outside the shop.
Yellow police tape that stretched around the entire block of the Benson shopping area Tuesday afternoon had been lifted.
Richard Moore, owner of the Benson Bakery, said he was in the alley behind his business at 6109 Maple St. Tuesday when a man pulled up in a van and said the pawnshop was being robbed. Moore said he and the man ran into the bakery and called 911.
Greg Bourne, owner of a clock store three doors down from Benson Jewelry & Loan, said he was working at the time of the shooting but didn't hear any gunfire.
Police officers came into his store and questioned him, then recommended he close for the day.
Bourne called Sargent and Blankenship after the shooting and left a message of support on their answering machine. They always have been good neighbors, he said, and the two businesses often did business with each other.
"I don't think having a pawnshop in the area is a bad thing. It's a fact of life," Bourne said.
Bridget Howell, president of the Benson Neighborhood Association, said Sargent and Blankenship are widely known in the business community and have been good neighbors. They have been business partners for about 14 years, said Sharon Blankenship, Ken Blankenship's wife.
"This is a very tight community," Howell said.
Amy Ryan, owner of Pizza Shoppe at 6056 Maple St., agreed that Sargent and Blankenship are good neighbors and stop in often.
"I was sorry to hear about (the shooting)," Ryan said. She said it would help reduce crime in the area if the police assigned a full-time foot patrol officer to Benson.
Howell said the timing of the shooting is bad for Benson merchants. A limousine tour of local art galleries including two Benson galleries on Maple Street at 60th and 66th Streets took place Tuesday evening.
The coming weekend also is big for neighborhood merchants, with many shopping specials advertised for Saturday's "Christmas in Benson."
"A lot of people from outside the community are here tonight, so the timing couldn't be worse," Howell said. "People have to realize, however, that this kind of thing can and does happen all over the city. It isn't just Benson that has a problem with crime."
Made my day!
Wow. A reporter actually made it through the entire article without using the word "victim" to refer to the justly punished criminal scum.
Guns don't kill people, property owners with guns kill perps that threaten their safety and try to steal their stuff.
Must not have been the regular garbage pickup day.
Nice touch, but why waste a sheet?
At least one of them will not be a drain on the social security trust fund.
And saved taxpayers beaucoup bucks!
I kept looking for the phrase "assault weapon."
Sorry, Ms. Ryan. Armed citizens like Mr. Blankenship are much more effective at crime reduction. He's just put at least one, and possibly two, criminals permanently out of business at no cost to taxpayers.
Records indicate that Kendall Tealer was free on bond awaiting trial on burglary and theft charges in Lancaster County when he was shot to death.
The Lancaster County case involves a crime that was committed in October.
Tealer had a long list of encounters with the law. Records show that he is linked to nine misdemeanor cases in Douglas County since 2003.
Just one time I would like to see an article written with important information ie number of shots in each, weapon used, guy's range time and even give the range a plug.
Just wait for the civil lawsuit from the family of this younmg man who was an "honor student" and was "trying to tuern his life around."
Pinglist?
Nice ending.
This is the second attempted pawn shop robbery this week. Not in that town, but posted to FR.
The other one ended badly for the would-be robbers, too.
Finally some good news today. I love stories in which the bad guys get what's coming to them.
'One of the would-be robbers, Kendall Tealer, 18, made it out of the Benson Jewelry & Loan after he was shot. He collapsed in the street and died.'
I simply love happy endings. Makes me get all choked up.
YAY I love happy endings.
Pity about the broken glass and any traffic holdups though.
I wonder what Ernie Chambers in thinking. Do you suppose he might finally see the value in allowing LAW ABIDING citizens to be armed.
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