Police: Shoplifters stealing televisions shove 81-year-old man, killing him

RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — All he was trying to do was to stop two men who were taking televisions from a South Carolina department store, police said.

Now Duaine Hamilton, 81, is dead, and the local sheriff said he will hold the alleged thieves accountable for Hamilton's death, WISTV reported.

Hamilton was the Sears’s loss prevention officer at the Midlands, South Carolina, store. He had worked for Sears for 13 years.

Police said Hamilton stood, blocking the two men, who then shoved him to the ground on Aug. 22. He hit his head on the ground and police said that injury caused his death at an area hospital on Aug. 26, WISTV reported.

​It was all caught on surveillance video.

The two men, Jeffery Alan Simmons and Jason Randolph, left the store with the televisions, police said. They were both arrested, one at his home at the end of last week, and the other arrested Wednesday, more than a week after Hamilton's death, WISTV reported.

Cox Media Group