Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Bar robbery turns deadly
Patron at Apple Valley’s Frogee’s gunned down

By KATHERINE ROSENBERG Staff Writer

APPLE VALLEY — Last call came and went around 2 a.m. Tuesday morning and the night supervisor at Frogee’s Cocktail Lounge was walking the last customer — a patron no one had ever seen before — out the front door so he could lock up for the night.

Bill Gielish was going to take the trash out the unlocked back door while his close friend, Gary Schultz, 59, finished up his last beer. But that’s not the way it happened. Instead, two men came darting through the back patio entrance wearing gloves and ski masks with a gun, ready to fire.

Moments later Schultz lay dying on the ground after being shot, while Gielish, still at the door, instantly went to the ground, thinking the shot had been fired into the roof.

“He just drops to the ground and they get him up and bring him back to the bar and that moment is when Bill sees Gary on the ground and goes, ‘oh my God. They’re going to kill me,’ Frogee’s co-owner Sue Luna relayed. “And why not? They just killed Gary.”

Luna said the rest of the armed robbery happened quickly with the two men breaking a security camera and making off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Luna said she wasn’t sure whether the unknown patron, who meekly asked to stay longer so that he could finish his Megatouch game, had anything to do with the robbery or murder, but the two men entered the back door just as the other man went out the front.

Earlier Monday night authorities from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Apple Valley station responded to another armed robbery at a local liquor store, but it was unclear whether the same two robbers were responsible.

“They had a robbery at a liquor store in Apple Valley and it’s the same M.O., the same type of robbery,” Luna said. Detective Tim Nichols, who was called to Frogee’s around 3 a.m. said officials had looked into the possibility that the crimes were related.

“We had another robbery at Apple Valley Liquor Store No. 2 and we thought it might have been connected but as it turns out it’s probably not related,” Nichols said.

Nichols and his team were joined by detectives from the homicide detail early in the morning and were on scene at Frogee’s until late afternoon Tuesday.

Schultz was well-known at Frogee’s and Luna said that she considered him family as he was her father’s caretaker for several years and having lost his own father six years ago, Schultz called Luna’s father “Pop.”

Schultz was also close with Luna’s brother and the pair were in the San Diego area on Monday and although her brother urged Schultz to stay, Schultz said he was excited to get home and visit Gielish who was bartending for the night. Luna later said that Schultz was Gielish’s best friend.

The regular bartender, a woman who just had a child recently, had called in sick for the night.

“Gary was just a wonderful human being, there’s no words to describe how wonderful he is. He battled cancer and survived and then he ends up dying like this by an evil, evil person,” Luna said. “If you knew Gary ... he was a very docile man. He was quiet and kept to himself and he was the sweetest man.”

In the after math of the extensive police investigation Luna and co-owner Joy Garcia met at the bar and were met by hundreds of phone calls and at least 15 regular customers who had come to help clean up and offer their support.

Although the bar is expected to be open at its regular time today, changes are definitely in the works. Prior to Schultz’s murder Frogee’s had been robbed on four different occasions and Luna said that the increased security measures never seemed to help.

“We’re definitely making some changes. We’re going to have armed security — enough is enough. I would’ve paid anything for these guys not to kill Gary but they did, and I will do everything I can to keep it from happening again,” Luna said.

Authorities did not release any suspect descriptions and their investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with infor mation is urged to contact Sgt. Tom Bradford or Detective John Gaffney with the Homicide Detail at (909) 987-3589.

Information can also be left anonymously by calling WeTip at (800) 78-CRIME. WeTip informants are eligible for up to $1,000 should their information lead to an arrest and conviction.

Luna said that other area bars have already offered to front reward money in order to catch the killers. Other memorial and benefit plans are currently in the works.

*Copied and Pasted from the Victorville Daily Press http://www.vvdailypress.com/2006/115332129354076.html by Lennox Lancers Home 7/21/06

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