TN company fined $185K over security guard licensing issue

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A Tennessee security company has been fined more than $185,000 in a consent order by the state after an investigation found it employed hundreds of security guards without proper licensing.

The investigation began after a 2021 incident in Memphis when a security guard at a Kroger in East Memphis allegedly fatally shot a man during a confrontation over loud music at a fuel center parking lot.

Security guard accused of shooting man over loud music is former MS police officer

Nashville-based Universal Protection Service was cited in 2022 for its employment of Gregory Livingston, who was indicted on a murder charge in the August 2021 death of Alvin Motley. The state said Livingston had not received the proper licensing.

State officials said the company subsequently reported that it had employed 309 guards without proper registration or pending applications over a six-month period in 2022 and 2023, leading to the penalty.

Livingston was working as a security guard at the Kroger Fuel Center on Poplar and Kirby when he was accused of fatally shooting Alvin Motley in the parking lot after an argument over loud music on Aug. 7, 2021.

Livingston, who was a former police officer in Horn Lake from 1998 to 2001, had just become a security guard two weeks prior to the shooting. He was indicted by a grand jury in 2021 on a first-degree murder charge.

Kroger security guard indicted for killing man over loud music

Kroger cut ties with the company after the Alvin Livingston shooting.

Motley, a Chicago resident, was in Memphis visiting family and had only been in town a few hours when he was killed. The family said he was unarmed and legally blind.

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