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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, January 28, 2010

Waikiki security guard dies following struggle with DFS shoplifting suspect

Advertiser Staff

Police are investigating the death of a security guard at DFS Galleria Waikiki following a struggle with a shoplifting suspect Thursday morning.

The victim was identified by family members as Frank Rodrigues, 46, an 18-year employee of the company and an Army veteran. Police classified the case as an unattended death pending the outcome of an autopsy.
Police said Rodrigues and another loss prevention officer confronted a 27-year-old man in the store at about 9:10 a.m. Thursday about a theft at the store Wednesday. A struggle ensued and police said the suspect assaulted the other guard.
After the two guards were able to subdue the suspect, police said, Rodrigues sat on a sofa and became unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Rodrigues did not fall or hit his head during the struggle, as was reported earlier Thursday. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of third-degree assault on the other officer, police said.
Rodrigues’ wife, Sonnie, said her husband had diabetes and was on dialysis. “We’d been trying to tell him he could go on disability because of his dialysis,” Sonnie Rodrigues said. “But he really loved his job.”
She said she learned about the incident from her 22-year-old son after store officials had called to inform the family.
“He was crying and he said, ‘Mom, you need to get down to Straub right now,’ ” she said. “But he was gone when I got there.”
The couple have two children, the son and a daughter, 18.