Posted on 01/15/2005 8:54:08 AM PST by Mr. Mojo
A would-be robber became a victim of his own crime last week after he was shot in the stomach by a Brighton man he was trying to rob, police said.
Police arrested Sean E. Roisten, 29, of 833 Jette Court, and charged him with unlawful possession of a firearm and assault and battery with a deadly weapon on a robber who was holding Roisten's wife at gunpoint.
The robbery suspect was transported to the hospital for a gunshot wound to the stomach. The suspect is expected to live. Police seized $59.25, three lighters, a set of keys, a box of Newport cigarettes, a tape cassette, a miniature toy gun, steel wool and a glass tube from the suspect. Police also seized a gun shell fragment with human tissue on it that was removed from the suspect.
Police are trying to work through various witness accounts and the crime is currently under investigation.
Roisten told police he was upstairs in his apartment with his wife and 5-year-old daughter waiting for his friend to return from the store with food when he heard a someone at the front door. Roisten called out, but was met with silence, and his wife went downstairs to see who was at the door, police said. When Roisten's wife opened the door, she was greeted by two men in ski masks and one man forced her back up the stairs at gunpoint, police said.
"He's got a gun!" Roisten told police he heard his wife scream as she was pushed up the stairs. Roisten told police he ran up to the third floor, retrieved his silver Smith and Wesson .40 caliber handgun and took cover behind a kitchen wall. When Roisten peeked around the hallway corner, he saw the robber emerge from the stairs holding his wife in a choke hold and pointing a black handgun at her head, police said.
The armed robber demanded money. Roisten said he had no money, but told the robber he could take anything from the house if he freed his wife, according to police.
The second ski mask-clad man then called up to the gunman that it was time to leave. The gunman began descending the stairs with Roisten's wife, police said. Roisten told police he rushed the stairs, slid down the railing, bent the suspect's right wrist and took possession of the gun.
Later, police received a call for a gunshot victim at 1505 Commonwealth Ave. Roisten then claimed he disarmed the suspect with his left hand and shot the suspect with his right as the suspect fled out of the front door, police said.
In the rear of 1505 Commonwealth Ave., police found a Sony hand camcorder, a black ski mask and a white skull cap. All were held as evidence.
A short while later, Roisten's friend returned to the apartment with a gash on the top of his head. The friend told police that while on his way to the store, he encountered a man in front of 32 Fidelis Way who claimed to have lost his keys. When the friend offered to help him find them, the man pulled out a handgun and forced him inside the hallway of 32 Fidelis Way, where they were joined by the second suspect, police said.
The first suspect demanded, "Give me Sean's keys," but when the victim told the gunmen he did not know what they were talking about, they struck him over the head with the pistol numerous times, police said. The victim told police he eventually gave the suspects his own keys. The suspects then bound the victim's hands behind his back with a belt and his ankles with his shoelaces. The victim finally worked himself free and returned to his friend's apartment. After giving his account to the police, the victim was taken to St. Elizabeth's for medical treatment.
Police found that Roisten's license to carry a gun expired last August and arrested him. Police took custody of Roisten's gun and the black Colt .45 handgun that Roisten claimed he took from the suspect.
LOL! Is that from "The In-Laws"?
Too many sets of stairs (3 stories), to keep track of who was on which floor.
I thought that at some point they were on the same floor, before the bad guy began decending the stairs.
Still not many places in house where you're more than 15 yards apart.
You ought to be able to get inside the 9 ring!
"Police seized $59.25, three lighters, a set of keys, a box of Newport cigarettes, a tape cassette, a miniature toy gun, steel wool and a glass tube from the suspect."
All the signs of a crack/meth head. When will our legal system stop making petty perps the victims and the real home invaded victims the perps? I am sick of our society coddling drug peddlers and abusers. They are literally being trained that bad behavior gets rewarded and good behavior is passed over or shameful. Sound familiar? As in how gang banger communities ostricize(sp?), ridicule and shun, attempting to drag good, civil, positive and productive students and athletes back down to the gutter level.
It's the criminal's fault in Texas .. so far it still is anyway.
If they CRIMINAL is in your home you can blow his fool head off! If he falls outside your door, just make sure his head is pointing towards the door....or just pull him back in.
The same thought crossed my mind. He wasn't carrying outside the home. Something's not right with this reporting, or the victim is suddenly the perp because it's Massa-2-sh_ts, home of the Swimmer.
IIRC, MA passed a law a few years ago specifically legislating that occupants have a right to "stand their ground" in a home invasion. (Retreat is no longer required...)
BTW, here in God's Country (Texas) anyone who trespasses on your property (not just entering your house) is in deep (apply your own term here...)
MA Cop: Let's see your license to breath.
Slave: What? I have a right to breath!
MA Cop: You need a license to breath or you're in violation.
Slave: What?!! I have a right to breath!!!
MA Cop: You have to have a license to exercise your rights.
Exercising rights is a privilege, everybody knows that! Breathing without a license is illegal. Do you have a valid license or not??!!
License. Permission to do that which would otherwise be illegal.
The prosecution can bring up these charges, but it's probably a waste of time. I really don't think they could get 12 jurors to unanimously agree he is guilty on this one.
slid down the railing, and took possession of the gun."
Sheesh--who is this guy? Mannix?
LOL, the sliding down the rail part caught my eye too. I'm young and agile but sliding down a rail to meet a home intruder wouldn't even enter into my split second response.
Just pointing a gun and squeezing the trigger, repeatedly.
A "hint" as to the ethnicity of the robbers?
Not really. I'm white and I used to smoke them...lotsa white folks I know have. But you may be right...kind of unnecssary detail, otherwise.
Unless things have changed dramatically since I escaped my 20-year "exile" in Massachusetts, the MA firearns license is a "license to carry fireqarms". (I'm looking at mine...)
AFAIK, individual citizens of the Commonwealth (not their firearms) are licensed in MA. IMO, if Roisten was, indeed, in his own home, (no MA LTCF required there) the cops are in a heap of trouble if they don't drop charges.
"firearms" (twice...)
Yeah, there is a lot of squirrelly stuff with this story. It really creates more questions than it answers. There seems to be a lot we don't know.
No longer! (Please, it's awful enough here without misinformation! :-) )
That was the law for a brief period years ago. Amazingly enough, the "Castle Law" was enacted during PeeWee Dukakis' reign!
If I recall correctly, Mass.Ch 131 General Laws, "Limitations on the Use of Deadly force":
"It shall be a defense that the shooter was in his own home..."
Any bets he'll do more time than the guy he shot?
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