A fast-food run may have saved the life of one Moon Smoke Shop employee.
He went to an El Taco on Thursday to fetch dinner for himself and the rest of the crew working at the business at 120 W. Grant Road.
When he returned to work, he encountered a swarm of police cars and death.
Two robbers walked into the business in the Grantstone Shopping Center, west of North Stone Avenue, and demanded money. The men got their hands on about $200 from cash registers and opened fire in the shop - killing two men and wounding a third.
"The shooting was unprovoked," said Sgt. Eugene Mejia, a Tucson Police Department spokesman. "These men are dangerous and need to be captured as soon as possible."
Yesterday, the bizarre and violent act was slowly sinking into the minds of those who knew Tom Lewis Hardman, 28, and Clarence Wilson Odell III, 47, who were killed.
Hardman, a native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, was hired at the smoke shop about eight months ago, and was planning to marry. Odell, whose girlfriend frequented the shop for two decades, had stopped to buy cigars.
Friends and relatives of the wounded employee were also trying to cope. The employee, 35, was shot in the face and arm. He ran from the store after the gunfire erupted. He was in fair condition yesterday at a local hospital.
Two other employees - one who had hidden under a register - ran out unharmed. One called 911. The other ran after the getaway truck, which headed toward North Stone.
The Arizona Daily Star is not identifying any of the smoke shop employees because the assailants are still at large.
Bouquets of carnations and wildflowers stood in jars of water near the front door of the shop yesterday.
Late yesterday afternoon, customers drove by the business to offer their condolences. The shop will not reopen until next week.
"I cannot understand this," said one employee. "We basically are a big family. The staff is traumatized, and we have received dozens of telephone calls from customers who offered their support."
At her northside home, Beth Hutchinson stroked a sick kitten while trying to grasp words to describe her friend Tom Hardman. "He was easygoing and liked to laugh," she said through tears.
"I, my boyfriend and him would play music together. Tom was really good at playing bass guitar. His death is not right. It doesn't seem real. There was no reason for it."
Police responded to a silent alarm that went off at the shop at 6:15 p.m., which also was the time 911 calls began coming in to dispatchers from area businesses and pay telephones, said Mejia.
"People were reporting shots being fired and multiple victims inside the store," Mejia said.
When officers arrived at the shop, Hardman was found dead inside the store. Paramedics tended to the other two victims, who were taken to a nearby hospital. Odell was pronounced dead about 25 minutes after the shooting.
According to witnesses, the robbers ran from the shop and jumped into a small, light-blue pickup truck parked in the rear of the business, police said. The truck was described as an older model with a step-side short bed.
One assailant is described as white, 6 feet tall and between 25 and 30 years old. He was last seen wearing a cowboy hat and a black shirt with yellow writing.
The second robber was described as white or Hispanic, 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He was wearing dark clothing and witnesses could not estimate his age.
Investigators ask that anyone who has information about the robbery and double murder call 911, 88-CRIME or homicide at 791-4487.
Officer John Sainz said business owners interested in joining the department's crime-prevention, business-watch program can call 791-4450.
The program trains business employees to look out for each other and teaches them what suspicious activity to be aware of and report to police, Sainz said.
"We can train people how to react during a violent crime and how to work to prevent one," Sainz said.
