AIT Dealer Survives Violent Robbery

By The WHIR, April 24, 2007
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April 24, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Web hosting provider AIT (ait.com) reported today that the operators of its Chicago-based dealership had survived an armed robbery and attempted murder that took place April 10.

According to AIT, the dealership's two principles Ken Howard and Vernell King were at the location with an employee, Ron Banks, when the robbery took place. All three men were ordered to lie on the floor, but King, believing he would be killed if he complied, attempted to flee. He was shot once in the leg, and another bullet grazed his head.

After the shooting, the gunmen fled. King is in the hospital, but expected to make a full recovery.

AIT says the perpetrators were not wearing masks and are still at large. The company says Chicago police say "they left everything behind except their driver's licenses," referring to forensic evidence that includes bullet casings, fingerprints and a flashlight.

The thieves reportedly entered the building behaving as though they were police officers. King, who owns several other businesses including a neighboring antiques shop that had had a going out of business sale the previous day, says he suspects that the thieves were customers.

"There was a good deal of money on hand during that event and I think that the guys were present and had returned to steal the cash," he says.

While the dealership supplies customers with a set of security services that includes biometric access control and IP cameras, those products had yet to be installed at the dealership. One of the neighboring businesses has an IP camera installed, which captured an image of the gunmen escaping in a van.

"From this point forward, all of my properties and future dealership locations will be fully protected with security products," says King.

AIT says the incident had a significant impact on the company and has made the security of its dealerships a substantial concern.

"This is pretty close to home for us; our dealers were lucky and we are glad the situation wasn't worse," says CEO Clarence Briggs.

Tags: security ETT