Another pass of the skimmer across the gene pool....

[David Scott]

Still more justification for RKBA......

From the Daytona Beach News-Journal: http://www.news-journalonline.com/2000/Jul/20/AREA1.htm

Convenience store owner: 'I didn't want to die'
By HENRY FREDERICK (henry.frederick@news-jrnl.com), Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH - The way convenience store owner Larry Brazil saw it, he had two choices: "Kill or be killed." "I didn't want to die," the 40-year-old man said Wednesday, less than 24 hours after he shot a would-be robber to death in his store, the Mar-Lo Mart at 301 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

"I wasn't going to go hand to hand with somebody who has a knife, that's crazy," Brazil said at his home Wednesday afternoon before returning to his store to close it up early. "I didn't get much sleep at all," he said, explaining he felt a lot of remorse for the man he shot dead. "Did I want to kill him? No. I feel bad for his family, but I had no choice," Brazil said.

The robbery suspect was identified as Darrance Solomon Adams, 26, an ex-convict with a lengthy felony record who was released from prison almost a year ago. Adams, who sported a tattoo that read, "One Life to Live," served time in prison for several assaults, including one on a pregnant woman, and for possession of cocaine.

Brazil told police Adams walked into the store, jumped over the counter and demanded, "Give it up! give it up!" Brazil said he quickly locked the cash drawer, unbeknownst to Adams, and fumbled with the buttons, pretending he couldn't open the register. After seeing a customer leave the store, Adams got nervous, circled around the counter, produced a serrated kitchen knife and lunged at him, Brazil said.

That's when Brazil pulled his 9mm semiautomatic Luger pistol out from under the counter and fired almost point blank at Adams three times, striking him twice, he said. Police said Brazil had a right to defend himself, but are conducting an investigation, which is standard procedure in fatal shootings. Police detectives also took Brazil's pistol as evidence, police spokeswoman Sonja Wiles said. Wiles said the case could go to a grand jury for review, but she said such a decision would have to be made by the State Attorney's Office.

Brazil, who said he fears retribution, returned briefly Wednesday afternoon to the corner store, deciding to close early in the wake of the shooting. "That's been on my mind a lot," he said of a revenge attack on him, adding he would likely have to continue carrying a gun. "I didn't ask for this," he said. "People think they can come in and take what they want. I wasn't born with a silver spoon. I have to work seven days a week for what I have."

Brazil said he was robbed two years ago at gunpoint, prompting him to arm himself. Eight months ago, he had bars installed on the windows of his store after several overnight break-ins.

The killing last year of Roosevelt Payne, 65, owner of the nearby Safari Lounge, and the more recent killing of an Ormond Beach man who was robbed and shot while soliciting sex from a prostitute in an apartment a block away from the Mar-Lo Mart also were factors in arming himself, Brazil said.

Though he stands just shy of 6 feet and weighs well over 350 pounds, Brazil said he's no match for any criminal with a deadly weapon, be it a knife, a gun or anything else. "I was the one who was scared," he said. "I kept pleading with him, 'Come on man, you don't want to do this.'"

© 2000 News-Journal Corp. ® news-journalonline.com

 

[Don Gwinn]

Pretty good article--if anything, slightly biased on our side.

 

[USP45]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Scott:


That's when Brazil pulled his 9mm semiautomatic Luger pistol out from under the counter and fired almost point blank at Adams three times, striking him twice, he said. Police said Brazil had a right to defend himself, but are conducting an investigation, which is standard procedure in fatal shootings. Police detectives also took Brazil's pistol as evidence, police spokeswoman Sonja Wiles said. Wiles said the case could go to a grand jury for review, but she said such a decision would have to be made by the State Attorney's Office.

Brazil, who said he fears retribution, returned briefly Wednesday afternoon to the corner store, deciding to close early in the wake of the shooting. "That's been on my mind a lot," he said of a revenge attack on him, adding he would likely have to continue carrying a gun.[/quote]

Except that the police took his gun.

(And for those of you who are going to ask me if they were justified in collecting evidence, to wit the gun, sure, just as long as they give him one of their service pistols to use while they hold his property.)

Poor guy has an attack on his life, and the system makes him helpless. It's almost as if this is some kind of sick 'Survivor' series.

------------------
~USP

"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998

[This message has been edited by USP45 (edited July 20, 2000).]

 

[David Scott]

It seems standard procedure that in any shooting for any reason, police take the gun for ballistics tests, to be sure it was indeed the gun that fired the shots. If this guy is savvy, he already has a backup weapon; in the same issue of the paper is an ad for a used 9mm Heritage Stealth for $100, if he doesn't have a backup already.

BTW, if the article is biased in favor of anything, it's the FACTS. Florida law allows a business owner to have a handgun on business premises for protection. Bad guy attacked with a knife, and assault with a lethal weapon justifies deadly force in self defense; the "castle doctrine" in Florida law says you need not retreat from your own home or place of business.

Bottom line fact is that this is a justified shooting under the law, and will certainly be no-billed as other such incidents in this area have been. Our Grand Jury takes a dim view of junkies with knives trying to stab honest hard-working taxpayers.

[This message has been edited by David Scott (edited July 20, 2000).]