Two people sentenced in death of man at East Bay Home Depot

Lorie Mohs would have liked to make this call.

It was a Tuesday in April 2023. She and her 26-year-old son usually spoke on the phone on Wednesdays, so she decided to wait.

But there was no call. His son, Blake Mohs, was fatally shot while working as a loss prevention officer at a Home Depot in Pleasanton.

Lorie Mohs' decision and lack of goodbye “broke my heart,” she said in court Thursday, just before the two defendants in her son's fatal shooting were sentenced.

Benicia Knapps, 33, was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. In April, she pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and gun sentencing enhancements as part of a plea deal.

David Guillory, 32, was sentenced to seven years and four months. He also accepted a plea deal in April. He did not deny having been complicit in a theft and having escaped the police.

Prosecutors alleged that Knapps shot Mohs as he tried to retrieve an item she attempted to steal from the Home Depot on Johnson Drive on April 18, 2023. Knapps and Guillory allegedly took off in a car, with Guillory at the controls . Also in the vehicle was Knapp's child, police said.

Knapps and Guillory were arrested about 15 minutes later in Oakland.

After initially criticizing District Attorney Pamela Price for a case she viewed as lenient, without more serious improvements, the Mohs family requested a plea deal to avoid a trial. Lorie Mohs said Thursday the resolution would give her family closure and closure.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Paul Delucchi said Thursday he wasn't sure the punishment fit the crime. In similar cases, such as murder during the commission of a robbery, defendants are often sentenced to life without parole, he noted. Still, he acknowledged that the family agreed to the plea deals — a display of “magnanimity,” he said.

About a dozen family members attended the hearing at the East County Hall of Justice in Dublin. Many wiped away tears as Mohs' parents, grandfather and best friend remembered his kindness and aspirations.

Mohs' grandfather, Roy Froom, recalled that when Mohs was a child, he wanted to be a cowboy, like Roy Rogers. This resulted in Mohs pursuing a career in law enforcement. Froom, a former law enforcement officer, lamented that his grandson's “hopes and dreams were taken away from him,” he said in a statement read by Mohs' brother, Matthew Labosky.

Lorie Mohs said her son brought peace, hope and kindness to the world. His firstborn, he gave her the title “mommy,” Mohs said. She remembered him as an Eagle Scout, a musician and a leader. He lived 26 years “fully,” she said.

“Today, my son, in your honor we offer forgiveness,” she said.

After the hearing, she said her family hoped to create a memorial with the names of violent crime victims.

Contact David Hernandez: [email protected]