Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Employee Plans Robbery of Bowling Alley

In a deadly combination of co-worker and stranger types of workplace violence, a clerk at Harpo's Lanes Bowling Alley in Kalamazoo, MI, was killed in a senseless robbery on January 9th. It was just before Noon when two men entered the facility wearing masks and carrying guns. They tied up three employees but then shot and killed 41-year-old Steven Kerr near the front counter. The gunman escaped but were later caught only to find a tragic twist to the story. An employee of the store, 17 year old Dominica Sims, was allegedly the one who devised the crime. The mother of 3-month old baby was working that morning and apparently knew where the business kept the deposits. She and a partner are held without bail while a third suspect is currently on the loose.

This demonstrates the frequent case of robberies and theft coming from a company’s own employees. A criminal background check would not have revealed any concerns as Sims had a clean record.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

How do you know Harpo's didn't do criminal background checks? Dominica Sims did not have a record from the beginning. Being an employee at Harpo's I did not believe that one of our "family" members could have done something so horrific. We are a very close family. Whether a company issues background checks does not justify what can happen. The core issue is crime happens and even though it was a tragic moment in our lives.
We have taken more precautions to prevent such things from happening again. The Background Check is just one step from ensuring safety in the workplace. It does not conclude that Harpo's is the "so-called" horrible , predictable business for violence to occur. It happens in many areas.