Standoff ends in tragedy
Sarah Zavala
Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: News
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On the one hand, Labbe, who lived in Tennessee, Ill., once received a Good Citizens Award from the Macomb Police Department for assisting in the capture of a drug-related criminal suspect and participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
But on the other hand, last August he was arrested for reasons that remain unclear. According to the Associated Press, Jim Gardner, owner of the Red Ox, a restaurant in Macomb, said he fired Labbe from a job at the restaurant for fighting with another employee and threatening to get even. Labbe, however, never returned to the restaurant after he was let go.
On Wednesday at 12:45 p.m., Labbe entered the Farm King with an AR-15 .223 caliber, [registration of the gun is unknown], and Labbe does not have a Firearm Owner's Identification Card, (FOID), according to reports.
Using ammunition from inside the store, approximately 23 rounds were fired, and of those approximately 16 rounds were shot at the MPD officers. Labbe did not have any ammunition when he entered Farm King. The police do not believe he was trying to shoot at anyone in particular, and no one was hurt.
Some local residents found the incident to be rather alarming.
"It's very shocking," said Larry Hicks, frequent Farm King customer and Clayton resident. "You hear about this in bigger cities but would never expect to hear about it here."
Farm King employee Kelly Schmidt, one of the several company employees to take refuge in the HyVee Grocery store next to Farm King, was inside the facility's warehouse when there was an emergency announcement.
"I heard the 10-50 come over the loud speaker and I went with another employee to check it out, and we were told to get out [of the building]," Schmidt said.
"We started to round up customers to leave when I heard the shots, and we ran out the back," she added.
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
AJD
posted 2/05/10 @ 2:02 PM CST
What's most troubling about this is what I'm hearing about the security procedures in regards to obtaining firearms and ammo at Farm King. From the WIUM website, it says that the procedure is to get the ammo the customer requests out of the locked case, THEN get an ID and FOID card and have it ok'd at the service desk. (Continued…)
Jake - Alum
posted 2/06/10 @ 12:22 PM CST
the kid walked into a store with a gun, If he had access to a gun, he probably had access to ammo. If he couldnt get ammo at FK, he could have gotten it from walmart. (Continued…)
SFLS
posted 2/06/10 @ 11:29 PM CST
I think that's the point being made...too much easy access to ammo. Obviously he DIDN'T have access to ammo, at least at that time, because he went to FK to get it to kill himself! I understand what the above poster is saying though it was based on a misleading story on the WIUM website that made it sound like they were checking his ID with the ammo on the counter when the kid grabbed it, and this story did say that was the procedure followed at FK, get out the ammo and then check for ID/FOID card. (Continued…)
1234
posted 2/08/10 @ 5:11 PM CST
I am married to the last person who was evacuated from the store. Please do not bash Farm King at a time like this. This could have happened anywhere, and had nothing to do with the security at the store. (Continued…)
SFLS
posted 2/08/10 @ 10:33 PM CST
I don't think anyone is "bashing" Farm King. I think people are just pointing out some issues that are very relevant to what happened and things that need to be discussed to hopefully prevent something similar from happening again. (Continued…)
4321
posted 2/12/10 @ 8:58 AM CST
"Let's all be thankful that no innocent lives were lost on Wednesday and be considerate of the young man's family"
That's really nice, because the 19 year old had mental problems he's no longer an innocent?
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