This is a nice long, sympathetic account of a man who used his gun defensively against two people robbing a convenience store:
When he arrived, the 37-year-old headed to the fountain drink machine, paying little attention to the din of chatter inside the South Newtown Road store. After pouring his favorite strawberry-melon flavored iced tea into a cup, he walked toward the cash register on the other side of the counter.
“I’m sipping on my Big Gulp, and this red beam cuts into my drink,” said the man, who agreed to tell The Virginian-Pilot what happened July 25 on the condition he not be identified.
“I look down and I’ve got a pink drink with something orangish-red in there. Then I look up and there are two guys pretty much standing on top of each other with two guns pointed in my face.”
The gunmen, on what police say was the last stop of a spate of robberies around 2 a.m. that Thursday, had hoods pulled over their heads and bandannas covering their faces. The red spot in the man’s drink was a laser light from one of the guns aimed in his direction.
Still clutching his Big Gulp, the man followed orders to raise his hands and move to the side. Two other customers, a woman and a man, stood frozen in front of the cash register.
While one robber stuffed his pockets with money, the other leaned over the counter with his gun fixed on the store clerk.
“The clerk was arguing with them, saying, ‘You don’t have to do this. Just leave,’” the man said. “The situation just started to escalate, and I was worried he was going to shoot the clerk.”
While the robbers focused on the cash and the clerk, the man touched the 9 mm handgun hidden in a holster under his T-shirt with his pinkie. No one noticed. He knew he had about 10 rounds in the clip.
As he stood there, still clutching his Big Gulp and occasionally taking a sip, the man now found himself facing a tough decision: Should he draw the gun?
He ran through the possible consequences: Will I go to jail? Do I have a clear enough shot that no one else will get hurt? Is anyone else in the store? Will someone else pop in? If I don’t do it, is the clerk or someone else going to get shot?
“I’m thinking about all of that and at the same time thinking, you’re supposed to have the right to bear arms, the right to protect yourself, the right to protect others if need be,” he said.
“I’m like ‘Man, you say you believe in the Second Amendment. You say you believe in America. You know God’s got you.’”
Still holding his drink in one hand, he fired first at the robber behind the counter. He aimed for his shoulder, he said, but ended up hitting him in the neck.
“He hollered, and I think that distracted (the other gunman) because he wasn’t thinking that was going to happen,” the man said. “Nobody thought that was going to happen. He’s probably emotional and distraught because he was in control up to that point.”
The robber behind the counter fell. The one who’d had his gun pointed at the clerk turned to see where the shot had come from. With that weapon now turned in his direction, the man fired two more shots. Both hit the second robber in his torso, killing him.
After kicking the gun away from the dead robber, the man told the clerk to call police, then checked on the one behind the counter to take his gun away and see if he needed first aid.
“He was like, ‘How’s my brother?’” the man said. “I remember answering him pretty coldly. I told him, ‘You don’t got a brother no more.’
“He looked at me like he wanted to do something and I immediately lost it. I was like, ‘(Expletive), no one points a gun at me and gets away with it.’”
The woman at the register had dropped to the floor after the first shot was fired. She was still on the ground shaking uncontrollably, with her hands covering her head, when he went to help her up.
The man, a divorced father of a teenage son and an employee of a medical transport business, was also shaken but tried to remain calm.
He’d never shot anyone before.
He is, however, experienced with guns and has had a concealed handgun permit since he was 21. He enjoys going to a shooting range a couple of times a week and believes all gun owners should be properly trained.
As he waited for police to arrive that night, the man began to worry about how the officers would react.
“You just shot and killed somebody in 7-Eleven. You just told these people to call the cops and they’re coming. You got to stand here and wait for them. Of course, you can’t be standing here with a gun in your hand. You’re a black man with a gun. You’ll probably get shot.”
Keep in mind that a lawyer or carry instructor would probably advise you to avoid saying some of the things the many in the article does in the aftermath of the shooting.
Read the whole thing. And if you haven’t already, read the terrific follow-up piece on Stephen Willeford, the man who stopped the Sutherland Springs shooter with his own AR-15 I linked to a while back.
(Hat tip: Dwight.)
Tags: Crime, defensive gun use, Guns