imported post
Good riddance.
Good self-defense shooting.
The robbee recovered effectively--after apparently some poor SA. I hope he's OK.
Good for him. Good for all gun carriers.
Man justified to shoot robber, Hazelwood police say
By
Denise Hollinshed and
Kim Bell
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, May. 06 2010
HAZELWOOD — A man with a concealed-carry permit appeared to be justified when
he shot and killed an armed robber on a street here, police said Wednesday.
Christopher Holland, 20, died grasping a .38-caliber revolver after the
confrontation about 8:40 p.m. Tuesday, Police Chief Carl Wolf said. It happened
in the 3700 block of Dunn Road, near Cortena Drive.
Investigators will present their findings to the St. Louis County prosecuting
attorney's office for review.
They also will perform ballistics tests to determine whether Holland was the
robber who fired shots that missed during a struggle with another street holdup
victim nearby the week before.
Wolf said the evidence supports the explanation of a 57-year-old man from the
area that he fired Tuesday night after Holland took his wallet at gunpoint and
was rifling through it. The robbery victim was not hurt. His name was not
disclosed.
"Unluckily, I guess, the deceased picked on the wrong person," the chief
suggested. "When we found him, he was laying on the ground with the gun in his
hands and his finger on the trigger."
Holland lived in the 5700 block of Pamplin Avenue in St. Louis. He died of two
gunshot wounds, one in the side and one in the back.
Wolf said there was a spent round in the dead man's Tiger revolver. It will be
checked against a slug recovered from a robbery attempt last week outside the
Serenity Circle Apartments, he said. In that incident, a resident was exiting
his vehicle when a gunman approached. They struggled, and the robber fired
several shots and ran.
Tuesday night's victim told police he was out for an evening walk and usually
carries his .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol because of previous problems
with dogs.
He said Holland approached from behind, put a gun to his back and demanded
money. As Holland looked in the wallet, its owner pulled his own weapon from
its holster and told him to drop his gun and get on the ground. The man told
police that Holland started to point his gun at him so he opened fire. Holland
ran across the street and fell down a hill, where he died.
His body landed near the front door of Georgia Baker, 78, of the 1300 block of
Eagles Way Court. She said she heard something but didn't think much of it
until she saw a man lying outside. "He was laying flat on his back by the time
I saw him so I'm assuming he died instantly," she said.
Baker said she heard three shots but some neighbors said they heard more. She
said she did not know the victim or Holland.
Another neighbor, Richard Garger, 71, said, "A lot of the neighbors heard the
shots and a few came out." He added, "I came out about a half-hour later to put
the dogs out. There was police all over the place and it was already roped off."
He said it's not unusual to hear shots in the area. "The night before, I heard
a shotgun blast, which I knew was not a backfire but a shotgun blast," he
explained. Still, he said, "It's a pretty secure and safe place to live. It's
just one of those things that happened.
"What are the odds that two guys with guns are walking down the street?" Garger
asked. "It's like the old West."
