Shoplifting Suspect Shoots Police Officer in Estes Robbery

An Estes Robbery is where a shoplifting incident becomes a robbery because the suspect uses force at some point during the incident. The force doesn’t have to be used at the initial taking of the items for it to turn into a robbery. Even if force is used while the suspect is trying to get away, the shoplifting can become a robbery. For example, on March 12th, in Nebraska, a shoplifting incident turned into an assault on a police officer. Kenya Lamont Jenkins, Jr. was stopped by store security for shoplifting, and then Officer Wittstruck arrived. Instead of cooperating and obeying the officer, Jenkins ended up shooting him in the face and fleeing. Jenkins was eventually apprehended and faces multiple charges, including attempted murder. Now if this happened in California, and if Jenkins had simply cooperated at that time, he would have been charged with a minor misdemeanor charge that could easily be dismissed through negotiations with the prosecutor or judge. But once he used force in trying to get away, his misdemeanor shoplifting charge becomes a felony Estes Robbery charge.