Crew’s foreman killed in robbery attempt

A robbery attempt in which two members of a salvage crew were held at gunpoint at a North Side motel ended in the shooting death of the crew’s foreman early Tuesday, police said.

The gunman fled on foot after shooting 43-year-old Harold Dwayne Martin, of Iowa, who tried to grab the killer’s gun. Martin was pronounced dead at a local hospital after 2 a.m.

“We don’t think it was random,” Major Crimes Sgt. Joe Peterson said. “Somebody knew these people had a lot of cash on them.”

The detective said the crew always used cash, not checks, and probably were seen with a lot of money. He said the robber did not get any money though, or at least, not much.

Police spokesman Dick Cottam described the robbery and killing:

Martin and two crew members employed by R&M Construction Co., of Waterloo, Iowa, were roommates at the Red Apple Motel, 9508 N. Division St., for about two months while their crew salvaged metal from the abandoned Kaiser Aluminum plant in Mead. Monday night, the three had been at a tavern near the motel.

The two crew members returned to their motel about 11:45 p.m., leaving Martin behind. About 45 minutes after returning to their room, there was a knock on their door. Assuming it was their boss, they opened the door to a gunman who demanded money. They said they had none, so the robber held them at gunpoint.

“He knew there was more than two people,” Peterson said. “He was waiting for the third person who had the money.”

When Martin arrived, he tried to grab the gun and the robber fired one shot, Cottam said. Martin collapsed and the shooter ran away.

Peterson said he had no idea how the gunman knew where the salvage crew was staying, but he doubted he followed them from the tavern.

A police K-9 team tracked the shooter across motel property and over a cyclone fence but lost the scent in an adjacent parking lot.

Peterson said the shooter was “careless” while he was in the room, and there was a good chance a police forensic unit would find clues to the killer’s identity.

“I’m confident we are going to find some evidence he left behind,” the detective said.

The crew members, he said, were rattled by the death of Martin, with whom they had lived and worked for a long time.

Police said Martin’s roommates described the killer as a black man in his teens or early 20s, about 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and stocky, with a close-cropped haircut and no facial hair. He was wearing a puffy gray jacket, blue jeans and was carrying a brown book bag around his neck.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Check at (509) 456-2233.