A security guard shot a suspected shoplifter at the San Carlos Home Depot on Monday night, according to the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office.
At about 10 p.m., employees of the store at 1125 Old County Road told deputies the guard confronted 26-year-old Jonathan Mackey because they believed he was shoplifting.
The confrontation led to a scuffle, during which Mackey allegedly grabbed the security guard’s collapsible baton and hit the guard in the head and face with it, according to the sheriff’s office.
Mackey allegedly threw the baton through a window near the store’s entrance. The security guard then shot at Mackey twice, hitting him at least once, officials said.
A deputy who was in the area heard the shots and went to the store, where he called for backup and arrested Mackey while providing aid to both him and the security guard, officials said.
Mackey and the guard were taken to a hospital for treatment and are expected to recover, officials said.
Mackey, a San Carlos resident, was arrested on suspicion of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon, officials said.
Home Depot stores in the Bay Area have started to lock items behind cages due to rampant theft, with workers telling The Standard that stores had begun locking high-value items such as power tools behind the cages starting around January. Even laundry detergent has been locked up since.
In April, the fatal shooting of a Pleasanton Home Depot employee led sheriff’s deputies to Oakland, where they arrested two suspects after receiving their vehicle’s description from eyewitnesses who watched them leave the store only minutes before.