Guard At Library Chases, Fires At Woman's Car

[Kor37 9]

Guard at Library Chases, Fires at Woman’s Car

AP

ANDERSON (Jan. 9) - A security guard at the Anderson County Library in South Carolina fired his gun at a car after the driver triggered a security alarm, authorities say.

 

Security guard James Turner asked the woman to stop after the alarm went off as she left around 5 p.m. Saturday, police said.

 

He chased the woman as she ran to her car and said the bumper of the vehicle brushed his knee as she pulled out, according to a police report.

 

The guard then fired a shot into the driver's door. The woman kept going and it isn't known if she was injured, authorities said.

 

The library has asked Cherokee Security Systems not to send Turner back to the library, said Carl Stone, the library's director.

 

"If we catch you taking a book, then we just ask for the book back and that's it," Stone said. "If we lose a book, then we lose a book. We don't want anyone to be hurt."

 

 

 

This guy takes his job VERY seriously!...

 

Why in the world would a library need an ARMED guard???..

[trekz 7]

I've been showing this to people at the library where I work and the common response is "Oh my God!"

 

I would guess that the guard may have been an off duty policeman.

 

I would also guess that this security company may lose its contract.

 

I want to see updates on this story!

[MrPsychic 1]

Wouldn't it be ironic if the book the woman allegedly took was "Steal This Book!" or the Bible

[trekz 7]

UPDATE TO THIS STORY!!!

 

News › Local News

Guard speaks out about library shooting

By Charmaine Smith-Miles (Contact)

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

 

 

As James Turner stared down at car headlights headed for him in the Anderson County Library parking lot on Saturday, he said instinct told him to pull his weapon and fire.

 

“When the car started to move, I pulled my weapon,” said Mr. Turner, a longtime security guard who had been assigned to the library since October. “It all went down in a split second. And I was afraid for my life. It scared me so bad I had to go to the hospital that night.”

 

The one shot Mr. Turner fired as woman fled the library for an unknown reason has rocked the library and may lead to new security policies. It is the first known shooting at the library. The woman was not believed injured, but hasn’t been identified.

 

Mr. Turner said he responded after the woman refused to stop after she set off an alarm while exiting the library.

 

On Saturday, he said, the situation he faced was truly bizarre. Mr. Turner said he feels that whatever she was running from was more than the threat of punishment for stealing a book. He said he asked her several times to stop. As she ran out of the building, he said she turned to him and told him to stop chasing her.

 

Once in the parking, she headed for the car, aimed at him and put it in drive, he said.

 

“She started forward slowly and then she hit me,” James Turner said. “That’s when I fired my weapon. And she gunned it.”

 

Mr. Turner, 50, said he has encountered all types of situations at the library. Just a week before, he said he had trouble getting an intoxicated man to leave the library. In that case, he said he called the police and had the man arrested.

 

He also said some people have had their wallets stolen, and he has been cursed at by teenagers when they are told to throw away drinks and the like.

 

Police have not been able to track down the woman. She was seen leaving in a red vehicle, but the guard did not get her tag number.

 

The incident has prompted library Director Carl Stone to consider using the Anderson County Park Police instead of a private firm. In the meantime, Mr. Stone said he has asked guards to work the library without guns at their side. The issue of guards using firearms has never been discussed, he said.

 

Cherokee Security Systems, where Mr. Turner is employed, has provided security at the library for nearly 20 years. The owner of the company, Roger E. Turner, defended his guard’s actions. The men are not related.

 

“He just barely got out of her way,” Roger Turner said. “At that split-second moment, he feared for his life. It was just a survival instinct. People can second-guess his decision but it was his life.”

 

All privately employed security guards are certified through a six-hour course approved by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Those who carry guns must also go through firearms training. And each year, guards’ must submit to a criminal background check to keep their guard certification.

 

Once they have the certification, the guards have the same arresting power as a deputy.

 

In James Turner’s case, he had worked for Pinkerton Security before he was hired on at Cherokee. From 1986-88, James Turner worked as a guard at the library. He went on to guard several other local companies and then came back to the library in October.

 

As far as James Turner sees it, he said the library is a lot more dangerous than people realize and that security guards he knows won’t work with the public, in a similar situation, without having a firearm.

 

“You cannot get a police officer to go up there without a gun,” James Turner said. “We get into the same situations as police do. So why put us out there where we can get our heads blown off?”

 

 

Comments

 

Posted by backcracker on January 10, 2007 at 8:28 a.m.

 

I remember James from the early to mid 80's at the library. I used to take my two children a couple of nights a week and he was always very nice to all of us.

 

My son would ask him questions about his uniform and his equiptment and James always patiently answered his questions.

 

It is very easy to be an arm chair quarterback.

 

 

Posted by trieste on January 10, 2007 at 9:26 a.m.

 

I agree with mr turner about not having a gun in security work.

when i was in the military,several times i was on guard duty in unsafe places.

oh,i had a gun,but no ammunition,that made me feel helpless.and as useful as a knot on a log.

most of the folks that are protesting have never been in these kind of siuation before.

 

 

Posted by goat34 on January 10, 2007 at 11:09 a.m.

 

I think it's a shame that there has to be an armed security guard at the library. As a matter of fact, I think it's ridiculous. If the library is that unsafe then maybe something should be done by law enforcement to clean the place up. I lived in a city 2 or 3 times the size of Anderson and they had no security there.

 

 

Posted by rgpayne on January 10, 2007 at 11:29 a.m. (Suggest removal)

 

It is a shame that we have to have a guard at the library of all places. It is also a shame that so many theives and crooks are able to do as they please when they please. If a security guard doesn't have a gun, what's the purpose of having one? How else is he going to protect anyone? This is so stupid, here again the criminals have all the rights and are protected. If she didn't have something to hide she would have stopped. If law enforcement had any authority (and rights) to get rid of some of these crooks, there wouldn't be so many of them running around. I don't know him but I'm 100% for Mr. Turner and really admire anyone in law enforcement now. They have an impossible job to do these days, seems almost everone takes up for the crooks!!!

 

END ARTICLE AND COMMENTS

 

So what do YOU think about the guard's statements and/or the acoompanying comments?

[Kor37 9]

I think that if the Security guard had just followed the woman out to her car and wrote down the tag number and called the Police, she would be in custody right now.