Man runs out of gun store with two pistols..

phone call?

Let's see here. "Customer" makes phone call. Clerk turns around to answer ringing phone. "Customer" runs off with two handguns.

I wonder who was calling?
 
I would say he was signaling somebody in the getaway car to make the call to distract Burns (the salesman) and keep him talking long enough for the robber to get away.

I'm sorry the owner didn't hit the creep. Based on how well I do at the range, I think I probably could have hit him somewhere on his person at 50-75 yards between 3 shots. But then I've never had to shoot at a man before, let alone a man who was pointing a gun at me.
 
Irresponible

Firing at a bg 10 or 15 yards away who is actively threatening you is one thing....
chasing a bg who was already running from you and then firing at him (a moving target) at 75 yards away in an open, public place is just downright irresponsible... it's people like that that give the safe, responsible gun-owning community a bad rep.
 
I would say he was signaling somebody in the getaway car to make the call to distract Burns (the salesman) and keep him talking long enough for the robber to get away.
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Yup. And if you catch the guy and get his cell phone records to show that he called the shop or an accomplice then you can change the charges from grand theft to armed burglary.

Firing at a bg 10 or 15 yards away who is actively threatening you is one thing.... chasing a bg who was already running from you and then firing at him (a moving target) at 75 yards away in an open, public place is just downright irresponsible... it's people like that that give the safe, responsible gun-owning community a bad rep.
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Let's see... a guy commits a felony in your shop and departs armed with your shop's firearms. He runs some distance before turning and pointing a gun at you (one he already had or possibly one he loaded while running, we have no data). Since people and news reports are often wrong about distances, it could have been anywhere from 50 FEET to 75 yards. I probably wouldn't have taken the shot myself, not after running! I'd have been looking for cover. But in the heat of the moment, you know that whatever the reason the guy stole 2 guns, he's an armed criminal and pointing a weapon at you. If he'd made the guy DRT I'd say they're rule it justifiable.
 
justifiable

BillCA,

justifiable and responsible are not the same thing... yes, the bad guy pointed the gun first... yes, the bad guy instigated the whole event when he stole the guns... i would have no issue period w/ shooting the guy, say, in the shop... but the gun did not get pointed at the owner until after he chased the thief.
what did he think was gonna happen when he chased a man with a gun? the badguy would throw the gun at him? no. all IMMEDIATE threats to safety were gone the second the badguy left the shop. By initiating a footchase through public with a gun, after a man with a gun, the shopowner, while within his legal rights, irresponsibly created a new threat to the public outside the shop. Had he not foolishly chased the man, he never would have had a gun pointed at him, and never would have a need to discharge his weapon in a public place.
legal responsibility and moral responsibility are not one in the same.
 
On the other hand...

he could have been exagerating the distance as an excuse for missing.
Although, I would rather admit to being a bad shot than having my head up my ***.
 
75 yards is a pretty fair distance for a pistol engagement - but not unreasonable if the piece is somewhat accurate and the shooter is up to the task. Not for the tyro or a pistol that is not up to it. But there ought to be plenty of cover - cars - to shoot around or over in a parking lot. Failing that a kneeling position can be attained very fast and is quite stable.
 
75 yards is a pretty fair distance for a pistol engagement - but not unreasonable if the piece is somewhat accurate and the shooter is up to the task.
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Yes - in competitive shooting. NOT when you are running to chase someone on a public street with your adrenelin level pumping away. That's irresponsible and dangerous.

BTW how did the Ruger "with it's price tag dangling", happen to be loaded? The clerk who chased the BG "grabed a loaded Ruger". I help out in a friend's gun shop now and then and the ONLY guns we have loaded are on our hips.
 
...said a nearby worker who saw the shooting. "It really scares me. He was attempting to hit him. I fully believe it."
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Duuuuh, you don't think..? I thought firing a weapon was the universal sign for "Get back here and we'll thumb wrestle to settle this." How wrong I've been!

... I hate people.

Regardless of what you think in terms of how sharp this guy had to be to be firing at that distance, you have to admit, they couldn't have picked a dumber line from the peanut gallery.
 
texas07, you make a great point and I couldn't agree with you more! The idea that because you carry a gun you can fire bullets in public to correct a mistake you made in the first place is dangerous, period. The cleck made a mistake, he should never leave a gun out and walk away, we can all agree on that, and to compound it by taking long shots with a handgun is irresponsible. Be interesting to see if he gets charged, who knows if the BG even pointed at him, that might be his cover story. Once again, being careless around firearms leads to bad things happening, no excuses.
 
Who says anyone else was in danger. The news report doesn't say, but the clerk could have seen that all area beyond the target was clear while he was chasing the criminal before he took the shot. I don't have any problem with him pursuing the thief who stole his property and could likely use his property to harm other people. Like the police said, whatever reason the creep took the guns, you can bet it won't be for anything worthwhile. If the clerk was close enough to stop and order the crimial to freeze or stop he felt that he was reasonably close enough to hit him with a good shot....but I guess he never fired a gun in anger before. Hands were probably shaking.

Besides, even the police don't seem to have a problem with what he did. The police lieutenant (i think that was his rank, I read the story last night) said that although shooting in public always is cause for concern he might not be prosecuted for anything based on what happened. The only complaint you hear is from some worker that for all we know could be some gun control effeminate transplant from massachussets (it is Florida remember) sees a gun being fired, wets his pants and assumes the worst on the part of the shooter. "Anybody crossing that way could have been hit." (doesn't mean anybody was crossing, besides, I don't see the worker concerned about anybody being hit by the thief's gun that very well could have been a third loaded gun he had on his person)

I'm not saying he wasn't irresponsible, not quite enough information to make that judgement on this end. But the fact that it doesn't look like the police are going to charge him with anything seems to indicate that he is in the clear.

If this had been a policeman, I somehow doubt firing a gun in public at a criminal alone would even be discussed.
 
I'll have to say the clerk made two bad choices. Negligent with the gun inside store, irresponsible with his weapon outside.

The policeman had it right when he said " ...shooting out in the open on a public street causes tremendous concern for the safety of the public."

As much as I think the bg deserved getting shot by the clerk, I don't care much for the idea of folks chasing bg down the street and running gun battles. That was irresponsible and bad judgement.

"If this had been a policeman..." . But, the fact is that he isn't a policeman.

Bottom line: If a BG comes into the store and pulls a gun, blow him away. Protect yourself. Don't chase an armed bg out the door and down the city streets.
 
I gotta agree with Relayer.
Caruso, 46, fired at least three 9mm hollow point bullets at the man, who was between 50 and 75 yards away.
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50 yards, under stress, at a moving target, with a Ruger 9mm? You gotta be kidding me. Rob Leatham couldn't make that shot with a Ruger 9mm! The man is still responsible for the bullets he fired though. Thankfully, no bystander was killed. This irresponsible Rambo should be charged. I'm sorry guys, but charging this man and others who act with the same utter disregard for innocent life is the best thing to do for responsible gun owners.

That being said...............
A couple of months ago, a Pharmacy on the bad side of my town was robbed at gunpoint. The BG got the money, and exited. As he went through the door, he turned and pointed a .25 caliber pistol at the pharmacist. The Pharmacist had armed himself while the BG had his back turned leaving. The pharmacist blew out the BG's spine with one .357 round COM. The BG died. The pharmacist was no billed. It was the best thing to happen in that neighborhood in the past twenty years.

It's hard to judge an incident without having been there, but if the facts are as stated in the news story, I stand behind my comments.
 
chasing a bg who was already running from you and then firing at him (a moving target) at 75 yards away in an open, public place is just downright irresponsible... it's people like that that give the safe, responsible gun-owning community a bad rep.
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It really is hard to judge from a newspaper story what happened. Let me ask all of you this:

Have you ever been involved in something, or had intimate knowledge of something, that was reported in the newspaper? Did you notice that the story was incorrect in at least one crucial way if not more? A poll was taken several years ago on this question and something like 90% of the respondents said that there were crucial errors, yet interestingly they did not relate their experience to the overall level of accuracy of reporting.

You can't believe everything in the article as being automatically accurate. Maybe, just maybe the store clerk had a good backstop to be firing into so that if/when he missed he knew that the bullets weren't going to harm anyone innocent. Maybe, we don't know for sure. We don't know how accurate the distance was - if it was accurate why was it give as a range of 50 to 75 yards instead of a precise distance?

If the clerk ran out right after him how did the bg get up to a full 75 yard lead? Why did the reporter say that the fired "at least" three 9mm rounds? What was the actual number of shots fired? Who counted them?

Why did the bg turn and point an empty gun at a guy chasing him who he knew worked in a gun store? That's insane if you have a 50 to 75 yard lead. He would have to know the guy from the gun store was going to have a loaded gun, and if his wasn't loaded what did he think he was doing? If someone points a gun at you one of the best self defense techniques is to lay down a field of suppressing fire, which is intended solely to keep the bg from being able to take careful aim and to make him duck and dodge and run and quit shooting at you, and if he does shoot at you he hopefully won't hit you because of all the lead flying at him. Ask any combat veteran about that.

Don't condemn the clerk without knowing more than what is in a newspaper article. Someday you may have an article written about you, and the odds are strong that you will find it was inaccurate and unfair in some way.
 
i don't want to pass judgment either way, so i'm not necessarily disputing, but you don't know the layout either. he could have known his backstop. streets could have been clear, bg could have been in an alley with a brick wall 6 inches to his back. kind of a moot point of argument unless we have more detail.
 
Groupings of warehouses

I've been to the place and shot there. Wide open parking areas with lots of small business's in warehouses. Also, I95 is right behind it within clear view.
Not the best place for wild bullets. Lots of activity, depending on time of day.
 
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