TACOMA — Prosecutors filed murder charges Thursday against four people in a robbery in which an armored car guard was shot to death at a Wal-Mart.
Two of the four, including the man accused of pulling the trigger, also face aggravated first-degree murder charges, which could carry the death penalty.
Prosecutors allege a female Wal-Mart employee planned the robbery with her boyfriend and Calvin Finley, 34, the man police say shot the guard. Tonie Marie Williams-Irby, 42, reportedly told Odies D. Walker, 41, and Finley that “hundreds of thousands of dollars could be had from the armored car,” charging papers said.
Police have recovered more than $40,000. After the Tuesday afternoon heist, prosecutors say Williams-Irby and Walker went on a shopping spree and spent $175 on a dinner at Red Lobster.
Finley and Marshawn Turpin, 20, were charged with aggravated murder, as well as first-degree murder, first-degree assault and robbery. They were held on $5 million bail each.
Williams-Irby and Walker were charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. They were held on $2 million bail.
Deputy Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said the defendants entered not guilty pleas during a hearing in Pierce County Superior Court. It was not immediately known if the four were represented by lawyers.
Loomis security guard Kurt Husted, 39, was shot in the head while leaving a bank branch inside a Wal-Mart in the south Tacoma suburb of Lakewood. The same bullet also wounded a customer.
“They just walked up and executed him,” Lakewood police Lt. Heidi Hoffman told reporters Wednesday. “It was very violent, very cold-blooded.”
Lindquist said his office has 30 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty against the men charged with aggravated murder. The alternate punishment for conviction on that count would be life in prison without parole.
According to the charging papers, Williams-Irby, Walker and Finley began planning the robbery a month ago.
The documents offer this account: Williams-Irby and Walker were living together and Finley stayed at their residence in the three days prior to the shooting. Finley and Walker spent those days monitoring the Wal-Mart store and the guard’s routine.
Turpin was recruited, and on Tuesday the three men pulled up to the entrance of the Wal-Mart in a stolen Buick Skylark and parked behind the armored car. Husted, the guard, had just entered the building.
Surveillance cameras recorded the scene.
Once inside the store, prosecutors say Finley approached Husted and pulled out a gun, firing a single shot to the guard’s face. The bullet passed through Husted and hit a bystander, wounding him in the shoulder. Finley left the store while Turpin grabbed the bag of cash.
Police say Finley called the shooting “unintentional.”
Turpin initially denied any involvement, according to court papers, but later recanted. During questioning, a detective asked Turpin if he was sorry.
“Sorry, I guess,” Turpin replied.
The detective pressed him, asking, “If you would have gotten away with this? How would you have felt?”
“Bad, but I would have gotten over it because of the money,” Turpin said.
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