Washington State Law: RCW 9A.16.050
Homicide—By other person—When justifiable.
Homicide is also justifiable when committed either:
(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.
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This was a good shooting. Heck - they only shot at the tires. The theft of the tools was enough to make it a felony, but then hitting the guy with the car is assault and personal injury.
Of course some DA would love to try to make their name on prosecuting these upstanding folks trying to stop a crime.
N.B.: shooting at tires is problematic, as bullets will frequently ricochet.
The driver pulled forward, causing the man confronting him to land on the hood, court papers say.
Another customer shot at the driver’s side front tire, according to documents. A third fired twice at the rear tire.
Both are good shoots, protecting the life of a third party who was being assaulted with a deadly weapon (car.).
Someone shot at the car one more time as it left the parking lot, records show.
Whoops, that one is not a justifiable shoot. The only jurisdiction that sanctions shooting at a fleeing felon is Texas, and then only at night. This one is going to cost the shooter some grief if he/she is ever identified.
I really hope that the concerned citizens come out of this unscathed. When I lived in AZ, open carry was legal. However, you weren’t supposed to shoot anyone unless lives were in imminent danger.