AZ:Armed Citizen Thwarts Bank Robbers, Kills One

Gun Watch ^ | 17 October, 2014 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

After being shot, one robber dropped the stolen money.

An armed citizen in Arizona has stopped a bank robbery in a dramatic and effective fashion.   It appears that he determined what was happening, took action, and fired on the armed robbers when they resisted.   One robber was killed, the other is in custody.   It reminds one a bit of the famous Arkansas bank robbery that was thwarted by armed citizens in 1922.  From abc15.com:

"He took the keys out of the car because they left the car running. And so he took the keys out of the car and kind of, I guess, he stood behind it waiting for them (the suspects) to come out," said Therea Sessler, owner of Fix Salon.

The armed citizen used his head to gain tactical advantage.   He disabled the armed robbers means of escape, then took cover.  In the video, the witness above says that he "hid" behind the vehicle.

I suspect that he called the police.   It is not reported, but it makes sense to have reinforcements coming and aware of your presence.   We do not know if the robbers fired at him.  The citizen who thwarted the robbers was not identified, but the word on the street is that he was someone who owns a nearby business.

The Desert Schools Credit Union is located in a strip mall next to a Big 5 Sporting goods store.  Here is what the scene looks like from the air.  The Credit Union is to the right of the Big 5 sporting goods.

There appear to be four vehicles inside the police tape at the scene.   The planned getaway car may have been the gray sedan on the right.   It is blocking the handicapped space directly in front of the Credit Union.   The robber could easily have run the distance to where the money was dropped in front of the Big 5 before collapsing.

In the 1922 Arkansas bank robbery attempt, an armed citizen noticed a running car outside the bank, with a getaway driver in it.   He flattened both tires with a handgun;  the driver attempted to flee, but was shot by another citizen with a shotgun.   Three robbers were killed, two seriously wounded and captured.   Not one citizen was hit with stray gunshots.


©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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Update: This magazine was found at the scene.  Its origin has not been reported.  It appears to be for .40 S&W or 9mm ammunition.

 

[mabarker1]

[mabarker1]

OK

Now the big question is: Who was the Mag from?

The Lone Ranger or the bad guy?

[marktwain]

I tried to determine where the magazine was dropped. I believe it was over near the entrance to the credit union, inside the handicapped parking spot, because that is the only place I could find that had singe parking lines inside of the police tape, and showed a possible marker for the mag there.

It was probably a tactical reload. Sean Quaid seems to have been well trained and tactically smart. I wonder if he is a competitive shooter. That spot lines up nicely with the location of the dropped money and the window that was hit with a bullet.

If Sean Quaid shot from close to where the magazine was dropped, and one of his bullets went through Lyndell Cherry, the geometry is correct for it to have hit the window.

If Sean shot from that location, the distance of the shot would have been about 20 yards.

[marktwain]

Looking at the geometry again, the distance is closer to 15 yards.

[Palio di Siena]

Shooter will be attacked as racist for shooting the black guy and not his white partner.

[Chode]

LOL! yeah, i know the difference, i just can't tell from the pic in post #5... 8^)

[Sirius Lee]

Feel Good story of the day.

[Fightin Whitey]

Your questions grow more difficult, Kemosabe.

Mark Twain makes a case for a tactical reload. But do we have any indication that Quaid fired several times? Or even more than once? Maybe I missed something.

Hard to imagine he would eject the mag after one shot unless he was really jittery which he does not seem to have been.

I wonder if Cherry’s gun might have been dropped and hit the ground when he tossed it to Jones. The mag might have been ejected after the toss, either by impact on the ground or by Jones when he caught it or grabbed it up.

I’d have to bet it was the morons’ magazine. Everything that could go wrong for them did.

[marktwain]

One report said witnesses heard 5-8 shots.

[Fightin Whitey]

Thanks. Didn’t know that.

Glad the good guys won, however it went down.

[marktwain]

Bad luck finally caught up with them. The survivor said that they had robbed several banks.

Do stupid things long enough, and you will win a stupid prize. Much more could have gone wrong for them.

One survived.