Murdered security officer wanted to help youths

Kurt Monticeux, the security guard killed during an attempted robbery at the O’Meara Mall branch of Church’s Chicken on Saturday, dreamed of helping youths – the same type of youths who shot him dead. Victoria Bernard, close friend and associate of the slain security guard and artist, told Newsday he was more than just an artist, he was a motivator whose ultimate goal was to inspire underprivilaged youths and turn them away from a life of crime using art.

Bernard told Newsday she met Monticeux while he was working at a school in Malick.

Bernard, who had written a children’s book titled Abigail’s Choice, was looking for an illustrator to bring the book to life.

A teacher at the school suggested Monticeux. When she approached him he agreed to do 30 illustrations for the book. “He was happy to do it,” Bernard recalled, “He even did it for free.

“The drawings he did were excellent. They practically jumped off the page. I even asked him to do more for me, and he said although he was going through some financial and creative battles, he would find the time to give me extra drawings.”

Contrary to people at his home at Building 15, Maloney, who described him as reclusive but respectful, Bernard described him as intelligent and outspoken.

“He always had a lot to say. He was very mannerly and old-fashioned. He did not like the modern style men used, emulating gangsters and that gang mentality,” she said.

Bernard said she wept bitterly on hearing of his death, because she knew of the struggles he went through to promote his art, and because she knew the kind of person he was.

“He wanted to open classes to teach children who could not find their way to do something with the energy they had.

“He wanted to open an online magazine so that he could speak to youths through the pages. Most of all, he knew about the struggle that we were both going through.”