An employee at Schlig Equipment Sales was returning his work truck to his employer with hopes of receiving his final check on Tuesday. What happened next, he told the police, could have turned his last day of work into his last day alive.
Maricopa Police Department officers were dispatched to the vehicle dealership on White Road near Southern Dunes Golf Club just before 5 p.m. on a report that a man was being held at gunpoint.
Phoenix resident Bryson Smith, 33, told the officers he asked his boss, Acacia Crossings resident Richard Schlig, 35, for his final check and an argument ensued.
He alleged that when he went to walk away from the argument, Schlig pulled a handgun from his waistband, pointed it at him and said: “Get the f*ck off my property.”
Smith’s wife corroborated his story in a separate interview. But Schlig told the police that wasn’t quite what happened.
Schlig alleged Smith was upset that his check would be delayed and that he threatened to steal something if he was not paid on the spot. When Schlig told Smith to leave, he said the employee tried to swing a punch at him but missed.
He told police that he took a bladed stance and motioned for the concealed firearm in his waistband holster, but said he never pulled it out.
Officers reviewed the surveillance footage from the lot, but they could not see the incident due to “environmental obstructions.”
Due to the couple’s corroborating statements and Schlig’s possession of a matching firearm, police submitted charges of aggravated assault and disorderly conduct against the business owner. If convicted on those charges, he would face 33 months in prison.
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