Posted on 03/14/2012 7:07:57 AM PDT by marktwain
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – The Queens District Attorney has decided not to prosecute a grocery store worker in the shooting death of a would-be burglar in Queens.
The 54-year-old worker was stocking shelves alone inside the Met Supermarket on Jamaica Avenue when two men cut a hole in the roof above the cash registers and lowered themselves inside the store around 2:15 a.m. Tuesday, reports 1010 WINS’ Carol D’Auria.
The worker told police that one of the suspects came at him with a blunt object in hand. Police say the worker grabbed the store’s registered shotgun and opened fire. One burglar was shot in the torso and pronounced dead at the scene. The other got away.
Manager Luis Rodriguez wouldn’t give the name of the worker involved, but says he’s a hero for protecting the store, while working alone overnight.
“Yeah, but it’s, you know, it’s a life. It’s a tragedy. Not nice what happened,” he told CBS 2′s Derricke Dennis.
Roger Aiken came to repair the alarm after the siren wires were cut and says the worker was in the back of the store, heard the break-in, and waited.
“The alarm went off. The alarm went off 2 o’clock in the morning, thereabouts,” he said. “Keeping low basically, until they tried to get into where he was I don’t think they even knew he was there, and then it was protection. That’s all it was.”
The manager denies that the worker used the store’s own weapon.
“The only gun we have is pricing gun to price the items,” Rodriguez joked.
The store owner spent the day cleaning the debris and fixing the hole in the roof. The investigation is ongoing, but customers who spoke with CBS 2 were not surprised at the violence.
“Only thing is I feel like this place is becoming a little dangerous now, you know,” one said.
“He could have shot the worker,” another customer said.
Further down in the article:
The manager denies that the worker used the store’s own weapon. “The only gun we have is pricing gun to price the items,” Rodriguez joked.
For what purpose is Rodriguez B.S.-ing? What am I missing?
I believe the customer was referring to the intruder -- i.e. "Wow, if the worker didn't shoot him, he could have shot the worker!" -- an affirmation of the worker's right to have shot the perp.
Two reasons; The firearms laws in NYC are so strict and confusing (and unconstitutional), he did the right thing by not admitting ownership of the shotgun until he has had an oppurtunity to speak with counsel. Second, since the perp is still alive, you can bet that the perp, his seven “wives” and his 27 children born to 16 different women, will be filing a lawsuit, and the owners of the store are trying ot minimize potential exposure by claiming the gun belongs to the employee.
I still do not understand this? What, he just outright lies about it when a simple check will prove otherwise?
Police say the worker grabbed the store’s registered shotgun and opened fire.
I get what your saying, but it's a simple ballistics check. The gun is registered, end of case.
________________________________
Ballistics check with a shot gun?
btw...due to a loophole in NYC gun laws the only firearm one may legally own w/o any permit is a pistol-grip, no stock pump with a 16 inch barrel.
The whole point is the gun was registered, and permitted, legally I assume.
If the "worker" said he used the stores shotgun and the manager said he didn't, shouldn't that be simple to check out?
You would think, but that's not true. The gun registration must run to an individual -- not a business entitiy -- and only the registered owner of the gun may possess and use the gun.
This looks like the same event as this other one:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2858926/posts
How could two reporters cover the same story and get it so different?
In this story the shooter is working. in the other one he was sleeping in a crawlspace.
I do not see a large difference. From the other article:
“was taking an authorized catnap”
Oh, I see. Great point. His comment would make total sense then.
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