[Still Thinking]

“Atkinson first encountered a store employee — an unarmed security guard — and walked up behind her, placing what she believed to be an object in her back and ordered her to walk to the office,” read part of a statement from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.

So I take it there's some doubt that the, uh...thing...he stuck in her back may not have been an object??

[Tax-chick]

a second employee saw that Atkinson had the security guard in a headlock and that Atkinson was wearing a mask that obscured his face

Maybe what she believed was an "object" stuck in her back was actually a "headlock." And if he was wearing a mask that didn't obscure his face, would anyone notice he was even wearing a mask at all?

p.s., I'm glad he's dead.