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Tragic ending in store robbery
By KEVIN GRAHAM
TAMPA -- Arnold "Arnie" Klotsch was described by his wife Sunday as an agreeable man who "thought everybody should try to do right." He died Saturday following that simple rule. Rather than duck for cover, he chased two robbers as they ran from a liquor store at the Albertson's in Town 'N Country where his wife works. One of the robbers fired two shots, killing Klotsch. "I'm not saying what (my husband did) was the right thing," said his wife, Denise. "But he did it. He would help anybody." Klotsch, 45, was waiting for his wife to get off work about 10 p.m. when he apparently saw two men robbing the liquor store at the Albertson's at 8701 W Hillsborough Ave., said Hillsborough sheriff's Sgt. Alan Hill. When the two men emerged from the store, Klotsch went after them in his car. Denise Klotsch said her husband usually came early to pick her up. When he wasn't in the parking lot after she clocked out Saturday night, she started to worry. "I knew something was wrong when I heard them mention the make of my car, there were two shots fired, and my husband wasn't there, which was odd," she said. She tried calling her husband's cell phone. He didn't answer. Denise Klotsch said she met her husband 25 years ago at a New Year's Eve party. They got married two years later and had four children, ranging in age from 22 to 11. The three youngest still live at home, along with an 18-month-old granddaughter. "The only time I've been away from him is when I gave birth to my babies," Denise Klotsch said. "He never went out without me." The couple moved from Wisconsin to Town 'N Country about a year ago. They lived about five minutes from the Albertson's. Klotsch worked in construction, and Florida offered work year-round and a chance to be close to Denise's 82-year-old mother, who lives in Tampa. Klotsch had worked as a foreman for F&S Frame and Trim since the family's move. Denise Klotsch began working at Albertson's in October. It was her first job since marrying Klotsch. "He took care of us," she said. When the two weren't working, they'd often go fishing or take rides on Klotsch's turquoise and chrome Harley-Davidson motorcycle. "We didn't have any enemies," said Denise Klotsch. "Whoever did this took so much away from us." Deputies obtained surveillance footage of the liquor store robbery. The two men wore hooded, light-gray sweatshirts and dark shoes. One suspect wore gray pants, and the other dark pants. They were armed with handguns, one appearing to be chrome. The video wasn't clear enough to provide physical descriptions. But the Sheriff's Office linked Saturday's robbery to a Speedway gas station robbery Wednesday at 6211 N Dale Mabry Highway at 9:19 p.m., and the surveillance video in that robbery is clearer. The suspects in Wednesday's robbery entered the Speedway at gunpoint wearing similar clothing and were either black or Hispanic males, nearly 6 feet tall, with slender builds. The store clerks were not injured in either robbery. No arrests had been made Sunday in the robberies.
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