Police say store owner shot teen during robbery attempt

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http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/391647.html



WEST CHARLOTTE
Police say store owner shot teen during robbery attempt
2 teenagers demanded money before shots exchanged, police say
CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
A store owner shot a teenager who was trying to rob a west Charlotte convenience store Tuesday evening, police said.

The teenager had potentially life-threatening injuries and was taken to Carolinas Medical Center. An alleged accomplice, also a teenager, was arrested, but police did not release the names and ages of the suspects.

The uninjured teen was being questioned by officers Tuesday night; police had not released the charges.

The shooting happened at about 7:30 p.m. inside the Bradford Food Mart, near Interstate 85 and Freedom Drive.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Robert Fey said the teens walked into the store demanding money, and at least one of them was armed.

So was the store's owner. The owner and one of the suspects fired their weapons, and one of the suspects was hit in the stomach. The owner wasn't injured.

The teenagers ran out the store's front door and down nearby Saratoga Street, but were apprehended by police officers a few hundred yards from the store, according to Fey.

Paramedics took one to the hospital, and the other was arrested at the scene.

Fey said he wasn't sure why the uninjured teen didn't keep running.

Police were still investigating and planned to interview the store owner and another person who was inside the store during the robbery.

It was the second time this year that a person working at a convenience store seriously injured a potential robber.

On July 23, a clerk at Charlotte Fast Mart Food & Beverage Store shot and killed a man trying to rob the northern Charlotte store. Stevan Lamar Sowell Jr. was found dead inside the store's front door. The clerk wasn't charged.

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Lucky for that kid that the cops caught them so quickly. Running + internal bleeding = pretty quick death.

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This paper has a sharp slant to the left, soI was surprised to not find one here. I am sure they will bury this story soon, as they do with most rightful shootings. The article mentions a shooting from October, and this is the only time they have mentioned that the shooter was not charged.

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.40 Cal wrote:

This paper has a sharp slant to the left, soI was surprised to not find one here. I am sure they will bury this story soon, as they do with most rightful shootings. The article mentions a shooting from October, and this is the only time they have mentioned that the shooter was not charged.

Click to expand...

Probably because it was so clearly a case of self-defense. From the article, it seems like the owner did everything right. He used deadly force in response to a real, immediate deadly threat (not someone trying to steal junk cars who has a screwdriver), he stopped firing shots after the there was no longer a threat, and he didn't chase after the attackers trying to "make sure they don't get away with it". Nonetheless, some of the wording in the story does try to give it a anti-gun stance... the fact that they don't mention that the attackers were armed until line 5, and that they word it sound like the attackers kindly asked for some money, kind of confirms that.

Regardless, looks like something for the "True Tales of Self Defense" forum... It would be nice to see a real case of self-defense over there for a change.