Home Depot – Skillman
Did you hear about the robbery and assault at Home Depot in April? No, not that robbery and assault. You may be thinking of the shoplifter at Home Depot’s Forest Lane and Central Expressway store who shot two Dallas Police officers and one store employee. This is the elderly man, Richard Delle, walking back to his car at the Skillman Home Depot, also in Lake Highlands. He was approached by a woman, Amber Gray, asking for money, but she became belligerent when he refused. During their altercation, her male companion, Lataurus Murphy, struck Delle in the head from behind. Police tracked the pair to a nearby apartment complex and charged them with aggravated robbery.
Delle died this week after three brain surgeries.
During her discussion last week with Exchange Club of Lake Highlands members, Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall discussed the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that panhandlers have constitutional rights to approach citizens and ask for money. She said her office is grappling with ways to keep citizens safe from panhandlers who become aggressive.
“To be honest,” Hall said, “right now we don’t have a solution.”
Delle, 69, had recently moved from California to be nearer his sister and childhood friends. Lake Highlands resident John Threadgill worked with Delle at Gifford-Hill years ago and says he is heartbroken to hear of Delle’s loss.
“What a sad situation,” Threadgill told me. “He was a fine man who had recently relocated back to Dallas to enjoy his retirement. No such luck.”
Charges against Gray and Murphy are expected to be upgraded to murder.
