Robbery stopped at loan office in Mesa, Arizona (10/20/05)

One man was shot dead and a woman accomplice was wounded at noon today in an attempted robbery of a Payday Loans office just east of Dobson Road in Mesa. . . .

Both the man and woman where shot inside the loan office, 1940 W. Baseline Road, but it was not clear if the shooter was a customer or employee. The woman, who was hit multiple times, was taken to Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn.
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Rhonda Wright, an employee at the store who showed up for work at 1 p.m. said she knew the store's owner, Scott Tracy, kept a gun in the store for situations like this. Because of liability issues, Tracy had removed the gun from the store and kept it with him in recent weeks, she said. Wright, 36, suspected Tracy used the gun to foil the robbery attempt.

"He picked the wrong person to mess with," Wright said of the slain suspect.