Lusher taking security precautions as police search for janitorial worker charged with murder

Lusher Charter School has changed all the locks at its high school campus this week and is consulting with police after learning that one of the school’s janitorial workers has been charged in a shooting in Central City that killed one woman and wounded three other people, officials said.

Larry J. Haynes, 38, also known as “Sly,” is accused of murder in the death of 26-year-old Tiara Reynolds and the attempted murder of three other victims in an early-morning shooting Dec. 1 after an argument with a woman in the driveway of a home in the 2800 block of South Roman Street, police said at the time. Haynes may have also been wounded — as detectives found a trail of blood that appeared to follow his path away from the scene — and he may now be receiving help from family or friends to hide from authorities, police said in a news release Wednesday.

Haynes worked for a local office of the Jani-King janitorial service that Lusher contracts with, and he was assigned to the school’s Fortier campus, Lusher CEO Kathy Riedlinger said Saturday morning. After learning that Haynes was on the run from authorities, the school changed all its locks to ensure he would not have access to campus and have been consulting with investigators about the case, she said.

“The police have gone overboard to assure me that they believe he’s got no reason to come back,” Riedlinger said.

Haynes has a lengthy record of violent crime, including charges of first-degree murder during a crime, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, domestic violence, extortion, an attack on a police officer, and other gun, drug and theft charges, police have said. Riedlinger said she has reviewed Haynes’ employment records herself, however, and all that showed up in his background check was a drug and weapon-possession case from about 15 years ago.

“There was nothing on the background checks that would have precluded him from being hired by Jani-King,” Riedlinger said. “Jani-King didn’t break any laws by hiring him.”

The background checks are conducted through the state police, Riedlinger said, so she’s not sure why the other, more violent charges against Haynes did not surface. Even so, the school administration is reviewing its own screening procedures for employees, she said.

“We’ve had conversations with Jani-King now about being more involved in that,” Riedlinger says.

A call to Jani-King on Saturday morning was not answered.

Anyone with information about Haynes’ whereabouts or about those helping to hide him is urged to call CrimeStoppers at 822-1111 to leave an anonymous tip that is eligible for a cash reward that has been increased to $5,000. Those helping Haynes may be arrested on an accessory-after-the-fact charge that carries up to five years in prison and up to $500 in fines.