Posted on 12/24/2016 10:56:50 AM PST by grundle
PITTSBURGH - A would-be robber was carrying a BB gun when an employee shot him Friday morning at a South Side restaurant, according to a criminal complaint.
The incident was reported just before 8 a.m. at the Subway restaurant in the 2700 block of East Carson Street. Authorities said 47-year-old Calvin Leon Smith entered the Subway, showed what appeared to be a real gun and demanded money.
One of two Subway employees told officers that he had felt threatened and had fired several shots with a 9 mm Glock, striking Smith at least once in the chest.
"One of the employees who has a concealed-carry permit and has a firearm apparently felt threatened for him and the other employees in the store, and shot the actor at least once," Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Emily Schaffer said.
A storefront window was broken during the incident, and Smith crawled out through the window, police said. A female employee who was hiding in a cooler told police she heard three shots, then she went out a back door and around to the front, where she saw Smith running away.
Smith fled down South 28th Street, where a man and woman in a Mercedes Benz picked him up, authorities said. The couple dropped Smith off at Allegheny General Hospital.
A state trooper in the area noticed the car parked in front of a home in the 800 block of Lovitt Way on Pittsburgh’s North Side, which then prompted a SWAT situation.
According to a criminal complaint, the man gave Smith a ride to the South Side and, when Smith returned to the car, he had been shot. The couple told police they didn't know Smith was going to the South Side to commit a robbery and said that Smith called someone on the way to Allegheny General Hospital, saying he'd been shot.
Smith was in serious condition Friday night with gunshot wounds to the chest, neck and abdomen.
Both Subway employees identified Smith from a police photo array. An arrest warrant was issued for him on charges of robbery and possessing instruments of crime.
Neighbors on Carson Street said they're on high alert. John Parker Sr., who manages Asian Fusion Bowl, which is next door to the Subway, said he knows the man who shot the suspect and will be checking in with him.
"He's a great employee. He has been there for over five years," Parker said. "I am going to go over there and give him my positive thoughts and words of encouragement."
Parker said, in light of the incident, his restaurant employees and other businesses along Carson Street will be making sure they are keeping a close eye out for anything suspicious, especially around the holidays.
"Nothing really happens here and we are a new business," Parker said. "It does put us on alert."
There’s a hospital right around the corner or across the river but they drove him all the way across town. Some friends./sarc
My bad.
Air Soft?
Go ahead, say it: “Don’t bring a BB-gun to a Glock fight!”
Didn’t shoot his eye out.
How many times is this “needs more time at the range” crap is going to get posted on self defense threads?
He shot him in the chest which is what you’re suposed to do.
____________________
LIKE!
So don’t rob people. No more Bozo excuses.
If Smith can’t take a joke, screw ‘em
“...actor...”
“How many times is this “needs more time at the range” crap is going to get posted on self defense threads?”
It’s a knee jerk reaction by some people. Personally, while I will defend myself up to and including killing someone who threatens me, the idea of killing anyone isn’t a thought I relish.
Did the BB gun use CO2?
That really sting ya know.
Some people just can't take a hint.
Automatic Darwin winner
All this talk about the caliber misses the point. 9mm did the job.
Doesn’t matter that it was a BB gun. The reporter wants us to feel sympathy for the one with the BB gun, because it wasn’t a real gun.
Too bad. He showed the gun. Shot. End of story.
“There’s a hospital right around the corner or across the river but they drove him all the way across town. Some friends./sarc”
That hospital didn’t take his insurance. It would have been out-of-network. Are you nuts?? Do you know how bad that would be??
No doubt, his 75-year old great grandmother will whine to the media, “Damn shame - he was just turning his life around”.
#1 rule of gunfighting: make sure you bring a gun.
A BB can break the skin and cause a nasty infection.
Clearly this is a Festivus Miracle, that the jamoke MIGHT survive!
Now onto the Feats of strength!
And do not forget, tonight Chanukah begins!
Christmas came early this year; Tue 8 Nov!
A special confluence of the lunar calendar and planetary alignment!
Merry Christmas!
Really? She referred to him as an actor? I'm surprised they didn't arrest the Subway employee and charge him with deadly assault, if he was just an actor. Or have actors now become open season in Pittsburgh?
Don't get me wrong, the police made the right call, she just called the criminal the wrong thing in an attempt to be cute I guess.
Knee-jerk is right, of course.
The perp was hit three times. If you want to discuss something constructive to wonder about, what kind of ammo was used might be a better comment. Sounds like FMJ ball ammo passing through. Seems to me hollow-jacketed slugs would have punched a guy in the chest hard enough to knock him down. A HP to the neck, even just under the skin should have kept him down for the count.
Opinions, range-funders?
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