ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A routine shoplifting call exploded into a blood-soaked nightmare inside a cramped Walmart loss-prevention office when a suspected thief pulled a hidden gun and opened fire on three officers at point-blank range.
Bodycam and surveillance footage circulating Wednesday captures the chaos: Deandrea Robertson, 33, already being held by store security, suddenly fighting like a man possessed as cops tried to slap cuffs on him in a hallway so tight you can barely stretch your arms.
Police say Robertson produced a concealed handgun during the floor fight and fired backward over his own head. Officer Trevor Amburn took two rounds in the lower body. Officer Kaden Pohl caught one in the chest, stopped cold by his ballistic plate, then returned fire and dropped the suspect on the spot. A third officer, Tae Yoon, was left with hearing damage and temporary blindness from the muzzle flash lighting up the tiny room.
“We almost lost an officer last night, probably two,” Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said after reviewing the footage.
The June 16 melee started after Walmart staff called 911 around 10 p.m. reporting two people stuffing merchandise. Officers arrived to find Robertson already in the loss-prevention office. When they moved to detain him on the misdemeanor theft and discovered he had active warrants for assault and a stolen-vehicle case, he tried to bolt. A Walmart employee slammed the door, trapping everyone in the narrow space.
What followed was a frantic, close-quarters brawl captured on multiple cameras: bodies slamming into desks, chairs flying, officers piled on the floor as Robertson twisted and fired. Amburn was rushed to the hospital with thigh and ankle wounds but later released. Pohl and Yoon were treated and cleared. Robertson was pronounced dead at the scene.
His alleged accomplice, 26-year-old Kathleen Lowe, was also arrested that night on theft and violating conditions of release charges.
The video, raw, shaky, and terrifying, has cops and civilians alike calling it a miracle no one else was killed in that confined space. Case noted the hallway was so tight officers couldn’t even fully extend their arms, turning a shoplifting stop into a life-or-death shootout in seconds.
All three officers are recovering. The state’s Office of Special Prosecutions is reviewing Pohl’s use of force, standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting.
Retail theft calls that look routine can turn deadly in a heartbeat. This one almost did, twice.
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