Wisc. Man Denied Medical Attention, Dies from Heart Attack During Armed Robbery
June 28—A 56-year-old man who was working on an after-hours remodeling project at a Culver's Restaurant on the South Side died early Tuesday morning of an apparent heart attack after two armed men robbed the restaurant and prevented the man's co-workers from seeking help, Madison police said.
"There was a certain vileness, a certain despicability about the whole thing because...you had an instance where the victim was scared to the point of death," Police Chief Mike Koval said.
The man, whose identity has not been released, is Madison's sixth homicide victim of 2016. The Dane County Medical Examiner's office was conducting an autopsy Tuesday afternoon to determine the cause of death.
The two armed and masked men entered the back of the restaurant around 3 a.m. and surprised four contractors who were working inside the restaurant at 2102 W. Beltline, Koval said. For about an hour, one of the men looked for and then opened the restaurant's safe, taking the money while the other man kept a gun pointed at the victims, who were ordered to lie face down on the floor.
Koval did not say how the men were able to open the safe. But after it was opened—about 45 minutes after the robbers entered the restaurant—the 56-year-old victim became ill and it was apparent to others that he needed immediate medical help, Koval said. But the man holding his gun on them wouldn't allow them to help their co-worker or call 9-1-1, Koval said. The victim was pronounced dead at the restaurant shortly after paramedics arrived.
"(The robbers) allowed the man to languish and subsequently to die while they handed themselves the greater priority of getting into the safe and getting the filthy lucre, or what I call blood money, and then left," Koval said. "It wasn't until after they left that (the others) felt they had a sufficient margin of safety and were comfortable enough to call 9-1-1."
Police provided limited descriptions of the robbers. One was described as a black male in his 20s or 30s and about 6-feet 3-inches tall. The second, also a black male, was shorter and appeared to be in his 20s, DeSpain said.
The other three contractors—all men, ages 22, 33 and 34—told police the situation was so tense during the robbery that each thought he was going to die, police spokesman Joel DeSpain said.
The contractors are not from Dane County, and police did not divulge their employer. But Koval said they do many jobs together and are a "tight-knit little group."
"They are shattered," Koval said. "They felt hopeless, helpless and have a sense of tremendous loss."
Koval said the crime qualified as a classic case of felony murder, a homicide committed in the course of another crime.
"It couldn't be clearer," he said. "Whoever causes the death of another human being while committing or attempting to commit a crime, that's a significant felony... The state needs only to prove that the defendant's conduct was a substantial factor toward that end."
He called the robbery "brazen and bold." Despite the early hour, the restaurant is located in a high-visibility area of the West Beltline and there is usually some sort of activity going on in the area around the clock, Koval said.
"That heightens my sense that this was planned and choreographed because there was a greater risk factor because of that much activity of people coming and going," Koval said. "I think it was more than just a happenstance opportunity."
It also appeared that the robbers knew that the contractors would be working overnight at the restaurant, which closed early Monday—at 5 p.m.—so employees could attend a company picnic, Koval said. That enabled the contractors to get get some significant remodeling work done in the kitchen area, Koval said.
The robbers—clad in dark clothing and masks—took advantage of an open back door that the contractors were using to go back and forth to their truck, he said.
Police are also seeking clues from "a wide net" of surveillance videos from businesses and public portals in the area, Koval said.
In a statement, Prairie du Sac-based Culver's Franchising System said it was sending prayers to the "family and victims of this senseless crime. Our hope is that the perpetrators will soon be in custody and brought to justice."
The incident was the second time this year that police responded to a call of a serious crime at or near the restaurant. In February, a man shot into an SUV and wounded the driver in the large parking lot fronting Culver's and Steinhafels along the Beltline frontage road west of Fish Hatchery Road.
The victim in that incident, identified by police as a 31-year-old Dane County man, suffered injuries that were not life threatening. The targeted SUV was parked closer to Steinhafels, but at least one gun was found in a garbage container inside a bathroom in Culver's, according to the results of a search warrant.
Police believed it was a targeted shooting, DeSpain said in February.
The Wisconsin State Journal
