CHARLOTTE — A security guard at a University City 7-Eleven shot at a man inside the store, striking him in the hand.
But court documents show his security guard’s license expired in March. Now, he is facing several criminal charges.
Robert Santiago was working as a security guard at a 7-Eleven on Thursday night when he fired the shots. He told police that the person he shot was refusing to leave the store, picked up a glass bottle, and charged at him.
One man who said he works with security guards on a regular basis told Channel 9’s Eli Brand that, though they are needed, problems can pop up with security guards.
“To protect others, you’re also putting others in danger,” the man told Brand.
Santiago had told police that he started shooting when the man refused to leave the store. But police said the victim was not close enough to Santiago to justify deadly force.
He also told police that he had renewed his license, but he couldn’t provide any proof.
“Even if it did expire, the company, or one of the other, should have been on their Ps and Qs,” one man who works with security guards said. “They should have been, days before the license expired, back to training and stuff like that.”
He told Brand it is hard to judge someone for working. But they have to make sure they are doing it the right way.
“I understand everybody got to eat, everybody needs a paycheck, nobody knows what another person is going through,” he said.
Santiago has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon as well as a weapons offense for working as a security guard without valid credentials.
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