Posted on 03/04/2005 10:17:07 AM PST by Stew Padasso
Store clerks fight back with guns
Killing in robbery is 2nd in less than a week
MELISSA MANWARE
Staff Writer
In January, the Gebrehiwot family buried a relative killed in a robbery at one of their three Charlotte convenience stores.
Today, they are dealing with a different kind of tragedy. A family member shot and killed a man police said held up one of their stores late Wednesday night.
"It's not good to take somebody's life," said Aron Gebrehiwot, whose brother killed the armed robber. "But you do what you have to do.
"It would have been us or him, like last time. We just buried my uncle a little while ago."
Thursday morning, Gebrehiwot opened the Midtown Food Mart II on Berryhill Road, where the shooting happened the night before. He had not yet seen his brother, or father -- who'd been working in the store cooler when the gunman came in.
"I am (afraid)," Gebrehiwot said. "But this is the way we pay our bills. What else can I do?"
Wednesday's fatal shooting marks the second time in less than seven days that a Charlotte store clerk shot and killed a suspected robber.
Police say these types of shootings are rare and dangerous for the store employee. They advise clerks to cooperate during a robbery.
Gebrehiwot's uncle -- who is actually his father's cousin -- died Jan. 20. Mehretab Woldeghebriel, 50, had been hospitalized since Jan. 2, when he was shot by a man trying to rob the Midtown Food Mart at Shamrock and Eastway drives. Nobody has been charged in his death.
Gebrehiwot said the family keeps a gun at each of its stores and has since before his uncle was killed. Police would not say whether Woldeghebriel had tried to use the gun when he was held up.
Gebrehiwot said none of the store guns had been fired during a robbery before Wednesday.
Just before 11 p.m., a man walked into the Berryhill Road store and demanded money at gunpoint, police said.
After the robbery, the clerk, whose name police did not release, followed him to the parking lot. That's when the shooting happened, police spokesman Keith Bridges said.
Capt. Sean Mulhall said officers found 26-year-old Jamie Mareno lying outside the store. He would not say how many times Mareno had been shot or whether he had fired his weapon.
Police found a gun outside the store, which they believe belonged to Mareno, Mulhall said.
On Friday, police said a clerk at the $29.99 Shoe Warehouse on East Sugar Creek Road fired back at three armed robbers, killing one and injuring another.
Police have charged two people in that case, but are still searching for one of them.
One of three suspects, 27-year-old Nathan Cuthbertson, was shot in the doorway of the shoe store and later died. Melvin Lewis Baylor, 19, was arrested Wednesday after he was released from Presbyterian Hospital.
Seventeen-year-old Trisco Danard McFarland, who police believe fired shots during the robbery and then carjacked two men to escape, has not been arrested. Police have warrants for him.
A .357 Magnum used in the shoe store robbery is among 16 stolen in a Jan. 25 robbery at a Charlotte pawn shop, a spokesman with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Thursday. Nobody has been charged in that case, so the ATF released few details.
Both police and retail industry watchers say the safest practice is for stores to do all they can to prevent robberies and for clerks to cooperate when they do happen.
"If you have a weapon, there is a possibility it can be taken and used on you," Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Keith Bridges said.
Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said studies show a person is 47 times more likely to be injured when resisting in a robbery.
His organization helps store owners lessen their chances of becoming a target. They advocate the use of drop safes to reduce the amount of cash available, and they advise improved lighting and removing signs from windows so would-be robbers know there's a better chance someone will see them from outside.
Bridges said store owners and clerks should keep in mind that they could hit an innocent bystander or possibly face charges.
A Mecklenburg district attorney will have to decide whether the shoe warehouse and Wednesday night's killings were justified.
Kebrab Gebrehiwot, whose son shot Mareno, said he hates that it happened.
"He didn't know me and I didn't know him," he said.
"Maybe it was just for the money, a bad time for him. I'm sorry for him."
And maybe you get shot anyway. If you point a gun at me, I'm assuming you're going to shoot me.
Forgot the part about lock and load before you open the doors
Bull. Prove that.
Gebrehiwot's to police: "kiss our asses".
-Police say these types of shootings are rare and dangerous for the store employee. They advise clerks to cooperate during a robbery.-
Police everywhere are advising people to cooperate with criminals. I don't like that advice. Sure, shooting's dangerous, but so is cooperating; you can't know if they'll decide to harm or kill you.
Will criminals be deterred knowing the citizenry is packin' and willing to shoot, or knowing citizens are cowed and cooperative? Hmm...let me guess...
"It's not good to take somebody's life," said Aron Gebrehiwot, whose brother killed the armed robber. "But you do what you have to do.
My sentiments exactly. What are you gonna do? You get back behind the counter, reload, and wait for your next chance to strike a blow against those who would harm your friends and lovedones.
Owl_Eagle
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
Anybody wanna bet Convenience Store robberies slow down quite a bit in that area?
It would be a nice bonus to find out that the robber the Gebrehiwot's removed from the gene pool turns out to be the one who killed their uncle.
They advise clerks to cooperate during a robbery. Gebrehiwot's uncle -- who is actually his father's cousin -- died Jan. 20.
Ummm.. worked really well for him.
Sure, cops don't like citizens carrying guns, but it's no skin off their nose if a citizen gets blown away.
As a matter of fact, the more citizens that get killed in crime the better the excuse for the police chief to demand more funding and powers.
Government is great, isn't it?
I mean, if you screwed up your job, could you go to your boss and say: "Boss, I screwed up. I was supposed to take care of this, but couldn't. This is a crisis, I need a raise and a promotion immediately to deal with it!"
But that is what bureaucrats do - whenever they fail - instead of taking responsibility - they ask for more money and power.
In private industry the "Peter Principle" causes people to "rise to their level of incompetence".
Government is the Peter Principle on steroids - the ONLY people who get rewarded are the people who are incompetent.
If a government employee does their job well without complaint, they will, instead, cut their funding and give them more work.
That's why government keeps growing, and the services get worse.
This isn't a tragedy. This is cause for celebration!
The person who is 47 times more likely to be injured is the perp.
Understandable, but what, specifically are the statistics for someone resisting a robbery with the aid of a gun?
They should give the clerk 5 to 10. That is five to ten thousand dollars for all he has saved the tax payers and society.
Clerks and tellers cooperate with robbers; robbery increases. Do you people see a connection??
Wednesday's fatal shooting marks the second time in less than seven days that a Charlotte store clerk shot and killed a suspected robber.
Their clocks were punched, permanently. They won't be appearing before a judge who will spank their hand and let them back out on the street.
They advise clerks to cooperate during a robbery bend over and take it like a man.
"cooperate"....What a stupid piece of wisdom.
Police say these types of shootings are rare and dangerous for the store employee. They advise clerks to cooperate during a robbery.
Interesting juxtaposition of these two paragraphs. The facts in the first would seem to contradict the opinion in the second.
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