Shopper pulls gun, stops robbery cold

imported post

[size="-1"]Posted: January 2, 2008
5:00 p.m. Eastern

[/size] [font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"] [/font] [font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"][font="Palatino, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times, serif"]
[size="-1"] ©2008WorldNetDaily.com [/size] [/font] [/font]

[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]A grocery store customer in Indianapolis is being credited with halting an armed robbery by pulling his own weapon and pointing it at the assailant until police arrived. [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Charlie Merrell, 51, was in a checkout line at a grocery store called Bucks IGA on the city's south side when a "masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee." [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]The police report cited by the newspaper said the incident happened at 5:17 in the afternoon Monday as Merrell was doing some year-end shopping. [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]"While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers," according to the police report, "Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the robber and ordered him to put down his weapon.
adsonar_placementId=1270202;adsonar_pid=663759;adsonar_ps=1451068;adsonar_zw=300;adsonar_zh=250;adsonar_jv="ads.adsonar.com";[/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"] [/font][font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]The newspaper noted that Officer Jason Bockting, in his documentation of the incident, said when the suspect seemed to hesitate, "Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber." [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]At that point, the report said, "the suspect placed his gun and a bag of cash on the counter, dropping some of the money � the suspect removed his mask and lay on the floor." [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]Merrill, meanwhile, held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived and took him away in handcuffs. [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]Police reported Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, and they recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun and $779 cash from the suspect. [/font]
[font="Palatino, Book Antiqua, Times New Roman, Georgia, Times"]Police records show Dwain Smith, 19, was being held in the Marion County Jail on a bond of $30,000 on initial charges of robbery, criminal confinement, pointing a firearm, battery and carrying a handgun without a license. [/font]



http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59503

imported post

Good story, thanks for posting it. The only issue I saw is that Merrell waited to rack a round. Probably should have done that first.

imported post

Why didn't I see this on the national news?:cuss:

imported post

color of law wrote:

Why didn't I see this on the national news?:cuss:

Click to expand...

Because the lawful gunowner wasntarrested on some bogus trumped up charge.

imported post

color of law wrote:

Why didn't I see this on the national news?:cuss:

Click to expand...

Nobody needed votes in Indiana yet.

imported post

I guess the bad guy needs extra instruction.

Bring a loaded gun to a gun fight.

imported post

I'd rather the badguy not bring a gun at all. Less of a chance he'll shoot somebody.

imported post

VAopencarry wrote:

I guess the bad guy needs extra instruction.

Bring a loaded gun to a gun fight.

Click to expand...

As does the good guy, apparently. An empty chamber is as good as an empty mag in a situation like this...fortunately the perp was just a kid and not a hardened criminal, or Mr. Merrell and several shoppers could very well be dead.

imported post

It was the bg that had the unloaded weapon Smith not the good guy. That is why he probably did not try to out up a fight. Suspect = bad guy.

imported post

Yeah, if the BG had a loaded gun (with one in the tube), I don't think this would have ended well for the armed citizen. I bet the BG could aim & shoot faster than the GG could rack the slide, aim, & shoot. He got lucky.

imported post

thnycav wrote:

It was the bg that had the unloaded weapon Smith not the good guy. That is why he probably did not try to out up a fight. Suspect = bad guy.

Click to expand...

Without a round in the chamber, the Good Guy effectively had an unloaded weapon. If the BG had a "loaded" weapon with one in the chamber, the GG would have been a sitting duck.

He should have gotten the attention of the BG by racking the slide,aiming, and yelling "DROP THE GUN"

imported post

Well I guess if you have an already loaded weapon you could rack the slide to eject one round and get the guys attention. If you see a round flying you gotta guess there's more rounds behind it. Unless of course your Officer Barney Fife... then you would have just tossed out your only round.. LOL.

imported post

Or you could just take aim and yell at the bad guy to drop his gun. I'm not sure about the criminals but if I have a gun pointed at me I'm going to assume it is loaded until proven otherwise.

imported post

N00blet45 wrote:

Or you could just take aim and yell at the bad guy to drop his gun. I'm not sure about the criminals but if I have a gun pointed at me I'm going to assume it is loaded until proven otherwise.

Click to expand...

"I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"



Or one could just take aim with one's loaded gun with a round chambered, and avoid the problem altogether. I hope the gentleman who acted in self-defense here re-evaluates his carry method...

imported post

N00blet45 wrote:

Or you could just take aim and yell at the bad guy to drop his gun. I'm not sure about the criminals but if I have a gun pointed at me I'm going to assume it is loaded until proven otherwise.

Click to expand...

Let's just change the scenario a tiny bit: BG has loaded gun, BG is on crack and willing to shoot anybody to get the money for more drugs.

In this case the Good Guy is a DEAD MAN.

Because when he pulls the trigger........NOTHING HAPPENS.......there is no round in the chamber.....NOTHING HAPPENS.....except for him dropping to the floor as the BG's bullets pass through his body.

NEVER expect a BG to act reasonably. NEVER expect a BG to be afraid of a gun pointed at him. NEVER think a BG's gun is unloaded.

Never point a gun at someone unless you are READY and willing to shoot them. Never shoot someone unless you are READY and willing to kill them.

This Good Guy was lucky at best. It was still a STUPID thing to point a weapon that wasn't ready to be fired at a BG.

imported post

Decoligny wrote:

N00blet45 wrote:

Or you could just take aim and yell at the bad guy to drop his gun. I'm not sure about the criminals but if I have a gun pointed at me I'm going to assume it is loaded until proven otherwise.

Click to expand...

Let's just change the scenario a tiny bit: BG has loaded gun, BG is on crack and willing to shoot anybody to get the money for more drugs.

In this case the Good Guy is a DEAD MAN.

Because when he pulls the trigger........NOTHING HAPPENS.......there is no round in the chamber.....NOTHING HAPPENS.....except for him dropping to the floor as the BG's bullets pass through his body.

NEVER expect a BG to act reasonably. NEVER expect a BG to be afraid of a gun pointed at him. NEVER think a BG's gun is unloaded.

Never point a gun at someone unless you are READY and willing to shoot them. Never shoot someone unless you are READY and willing to kill them.

This Good Guy was lucky at best. It was still a STUPID thing to point a weapon that wasn't ready to be fired at a BG.

Click to expand...

But wait, aren't bullets not very dangerous if they only pass through you instead of transferring all of their energy to you?

Good post, though. And what's even better than crack is that thing called adrenaline. A BG doesn't even need to be on "drugs" in order to act very irrationally...

imported post

imperialism2024 wrote:

.......But wait, aren't bullets not very dangerous if they only pass through you instead of transferring all of their energy to you? .........

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say that bullets that pass through you are "not very dangerous ", but I would say that they are less dangerous, than one that hits you, without passing through anything but air.



Tarzan

imported post

Although everything turned out ok in the store, I don't think the armed citizen handled the situation properly. You do not EVER point an unloaded gun at another hostile person who does have a gun. The first thing to assume is that ALL guns are loaded and if you are in a combat situation with someone who has a gun, you assume it is loaded and therefore yours should be loaded. Second, I don't think that simply pointing the gun at the attacker is the best choice either. The robber was already holding someone hostage by pointing or waving the gun and demanding money. Most regular armed citizens do not have SWAT training and as with any crazy person, you don't know who you are dealing with or what they are capable of. You could easily point the gun at the criminal and instead of the criminal putting the gun down, he grabs an innocent shopper whom he holds out in front of him with the gun to his/her head and now demands you to put down your weapon. People seem to mistake when to use a gun for intimidation and when to use it as a weapon. Carrying a gun on your hip while going about your business would be an example of the intimidation purpose to keep troublemakers from bothering you. You don't use a gun for intimidation in a hostage situation, you use it as a weapon. The only logical thing I couldhave seen to handling it was to pull out the gun (fully loaded) and shoot the criminal without even saying anything. Then you keep shooting until the criminal has dropped the gun and said don't shoot or he is down from the shots. People don't seem to understand that you don't have time to waste in these situations. You can say "put the gun down" and the guy can shoot a couple of shoppers with his back to you or again grab one and hold them hostage. If I saw someone walk in to a store with a mask on, waving a gun around and threatening people, I would just shoot them and then deal with it later if need be.

imported post

Well I guess if you have an already loaded weapon you could rack the slide to eject one round and get the guys attention. If you see a round flying you gotta guess there's more rounds behind it. Unless of course your Officer Barney Fife... then you would have just tossed out your only round.. LOL.

Click to expand...

I don't understand this trend on this forum as well as other gun owners I know to simply use guns to "scare" attackers. I've always believed that you never use a weapon to "threaten" someone. You use a weapon to stop someone. Basically, don't pull a weapon if you aren't going to use it. The reason behind it is simple: if you aren't going to use the weapon and you pull it, there is a good chance the attacker will grab it away from you and use it on you. It doesn't matter whether it is a gun, knife, pepperspray, taser, or even a fist. If a situation is serious enough that you are legally authorized to pull a weapon, it also means you are authorized to use that weapon. What people don't understand is that everything happens so fast and you--the armed citizen--are likely to be very nervous and due to your own fear of the situation may end up actually hesitating which could cost you your life.

I'm always reading about people talking about how effective it is to stop a burglary by "racking a round" in the shotgun. While you are racking that round, the burgular may have already shot you in the head with his lightweight pistol. Second, people talk of holding the criminal at gunpoint with the shotgun. If the criminal is less than 10 feet away from you, there is a good chance that they could lunge and grab the gun away or knock it away from them. Additionally, you can still shoot the criminal and they might still keep coming at you especially if they are on something. I've had situations where I needed to be ready such as ina bar fight in the parking lot where I was ready to aim and fire if necessary. But there shouldn't be a middle ground between "being ready" and defending yourself. Again, if something has escalated to the point where you need to aim, then you probably need to fire. I don't know if people here are watching too much TV or what but you don't just stand there next to an armed masked criminal and "rack a round." They can shoot you faster than you can rack that round and shoot them. Use your head. I hope some people here don't run into these situations because you might end up dead. If someone breaks into your house or threatens you on the street with a deadly weapon, you shoot first and ask questions later. It is better to do something that puts you in "hot water" than not do something and end up on ice.

imported post

:banghead:++1 protector He could have killed someone in that split second.