THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060323
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The owner of a suburban jewelry shop where store workers shot and killed two armed intruders last week said he is shaken by but does not regret the turn of events.
Henrico County police on Monday identified the two would-be robbers and said both had extensive backgrounds in criminal activities throughout the South.
Gary Baker, owner of Beverly Hills Jewelry store, said he was in the store with six employees and a male customer about 10:15 a.m. Friday when two men wearing ski masks charged through the door.
Baker said both were carrying sawed-off shotguns.
``The way they came in and what they were carrying - they were professionals and they came in here to kill,'' Baker said in an interview Monday.
``It was a terrible thing to have to experience, but I'm glad it turned out way it did. I have four children, and it gets me mad thinking about people trying to take my life away from me.''
According to Lt. Lewis Shaw, the two men were identified as William L. Head, 71, whose last known address was New Orleans, and Thomas J. Salter, 56, whose last known address was Nashville, Tenn.
Shaw said the two had arrest records, but he declined to release details.
Baker said one of the men came to the back of the store and tried to jump over the counter, while the other stood at the front door.
``I was sure then and I am sure now that he was staying there to stop any of my people from getting out alive,'' Baker said. ``And innocent people like them who are trying to make a living should not be at the mercy of certain elements of society.''
Baker, who was on a platform at the back of the store, said he grabbed a intruders. Two other employees also fired .38-caliber pistols, he said.
Baker said at least one of the intruders, the man at the front door, returned the gunfire. He said he saw the customer and several employees dive for cover but did not see if the second intruder was firing.
``Everything happened so fast, you wouldn't believe it,'' he said. ``It's something that even when it's happening it seems like it didn't happen. It's like seeing it on television. Each day I get more and more upset about it.''
The exchange of gunfire left the two would-be robbers dead and riddled the front door and windows of the store with bullets. An employee at a nearby store said she counted more than 25 bullet holes.
Baker was hit once in the left hand with what a medic later told him was a shotgun pellet. The other employees and the customer were not wounded.
Police refused to comment on Baker's account of the shooting and would not say what they had discovered during a preliminary investigation. Shaw said only that the two men were pronounced dead by medics at the scene.
Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Duncan Reid said his office hopes to decide by the end of the week whether Baker and the two employees who fired shots - who have not been identified - will face any charges.
Baker, meanwhile, has reopened his store. He said people from across Virginia and in several other states have called to express support for the action he took.
``It's funny,'' he said. ``When we opened here police told us this was one of the safest areas in the county. Hopefully, that will prove true now.''
KEYWORDS: ROBBERY SHOOTING by CNB