Home Scandal and Gossip Home Depot worker, 83, dies after shoved trying to stop shoplifter

Home Depot worker, 83, dies after shoved trying to stop shoplifter

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Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker dies from injuries by thief
Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker at Hillsborough location dies from injuries trying to stop brazen shoplifter.
Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker dies from injuries by thief
Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker at Hillsborough location dies from injuries trying to stop brazen shoplifter.

Gary Rasor 83 year old Home Depot worker at Hillsborough location dies from injuries sustained trying to stop brazen shoplifter. 

An 83-year-old North Carolina Home Depot worker has died — weeks after he was thrown to the ground trying to stop a shoplifter who remains on the loose.

Gary Rasor was captured on surveillance footage confronting a man wheeling three Ryobi pressure cookers out of the Hillsborough store Oct. 18 — only to be shoved to the ground by the thief who then casually strolls away.

Rasor was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he celebrated his 83rd birthday and made hopeful plans to see his new grandchild for the first time, his wife told WNCN.

But it wasn’t to be.

Rasor died Thursday ‘due to complications from the injuries received,’ Hillsborough cops announced the next day.

‘Just mind-boggling,’

The North Carolina medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide. Police continue to  hunt for the suspect they previously branded a ‘menace to society.’

‘It’s just beyond our comprehension that someone would do this for a couple of power washers,’ Rasor’s son Jeff Rasor told WNCN.

‘That is just mind-boggling,’ added the son. 

Rasor’s widow, Yovone, said her husband initially remained ‘upbeat’— until he saw footage of the attack.

‘He lost it … he just lost it,’ she recalled.

‘It’s just hard, and I know it sounds silly, but I’m still waiting for him to come back home,’ she said. ‘I can’t get him back … that’s it.’

According to Yovone, Gary was supposed to come home for Christmas, with the family planning on taking a vacation with all the grandchildren.

Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker dies from injuries by thief
Gary Rasor 83 yr old Home Depot worker at Hillsborough location dies from injuries trying to stop brazen shoplifter.

Possible homicide investigation

Gary Rasor was a favorite among customers at the Home Depot, where most knew him as ‘Mr. Gary.’

‘Everyone loves him, he’s an outstanding individual,’ Andy Simmons with Hillsborough police said at the time. ‘And then somebody does something like this to him just to commit a larceny, it’s absolutely ridiculous.’

The larceny is now being investigated as a possible homicide as police continue their search for the 6-foot-tall suspect, who wore a black mask and black Calvin Klein hoodie, and fled in a white Hyundai Sonata with an obscured temporary North Carolina tag.

Gary Rasor’s memorial will be December 9 at Clements Funeral in Hillsborough.

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