Posted on 09/27/2005 8:39:47 AM PDT by george76
Liquor Store Owner Cleared By Weld County District Attorney
An investigation of the shooting determined that the liquor store owner, Ron Trauernicht, 59, shot Wies because he thought Wies was going to shoot Norma Trauernicht, Ron's wife.
The robbery attempt began when police said that Wies entered the store and said he had a gun. He had something in his hand covered by cloth and used it to order store employees and two customers into a back cooler.
Police said that Wies was taking money from the cash register when Norma Trauernicht came out of the cooler and confronted him. Wies pushed her to the floor as Ron Trauernicht came out of the cooler and grabbed a .357-caliber revolver he kept in the store for protection.
Ron Trauernicht told Wies to put his weapon down, but told investigators that Wies pointed the simulated weapon at Norma Trauernicht's head. That's when her husband fired a single shot at Wies, striking him in the forehead. He died four days later.
Police found Wies was not armed with a weapon but with the water sprinkler covered with cloth to simulate a gun.
Weld County District Attorney Kenneth R. Buck determined that Ron Trauernicht acted within the law because he believed that he and his wife were in imminent danger of being killed and that he believed a crime was being committed when he fired the fatal shot.
An investigation revealed that Wies was suspected in at least four robberies in Greeley and Loveland. In all of the robberies, police said he covered his hand to make it appear he had a gun.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedenverchannel.com ...
Must have been a light load FMJ.
Drawin special recognition winner.
"Must have been a light load FMJ."
.357 also shoots .38s. Not that it would have made much difference at short range, but I thought the same thing.
Excellent Gun control! And nary a waste of ammo.
You mean you can be charged with shooting a robber with a water nozzle???.....oh, wait....it's just another Stuck On Stupid headline...../sarc
Perhaps the Perp had an extremely THICK skull!
a nice long slow death... I think this guy got a two-fer
Althought instantaneuos introduction to his final reward is always best.
I shoot 38 spec in mine to plink. Keep it loaded with half jacket hollow points.
People have continued fighting after a 357 headshot.
Shoot them down to the ground.
The interesting thing will be if the robbers family presses with any civil liability suits. I doubt they'd win, but the legal expense fighting it might be rough.
Note to self:
Don't bring a water nozzle to a gun fight.
I don't know the details of the wound, so I can't speak to this particular case. However, headshots are quirky things. Really, the only near-certain head shot is to a relatively narrow rectangle encompassing the ocular cavity and the nose. Because of the shape of the skull, bullets striking at an angle can actually ride along the skull under the scalp rather than penetrating cleanly. I don't know if that happened in this case, but I just wanted to point out that headshots are tricky and are not the certain thing many people think.
When I was in high school, there was an attempted armed robbery in my hometown where the store owner killed the robber. The owner filed a civil suit against the estate of the scumbag for cleanup expenses due to the damaged merchandise and loss of business due to his brain spraying all over the store. Some people thought it was cruel, but it was really a turning point in my way of thinking about things. Who was responsible for the damage? The thief. Who should pay for the damage? The thief.
And please don't bang your dead.
That's disgusting.
Yeah! THAT was what had my interest, then I come to find out it was a run-of-the-mill .357, instead. I know there are high-pressure water tools out there that can do the damage -- there are machines available that'll cut 1/4" plate steel using HP water -- so I was all interested to see what was used to nail this guy.
Huh, ordinary "lead pill." BO-ring.
I once knew a man with a wooden leg named Smith.
>> Why did it take four days after a head shot from a .357 pistol? <<
The guy tried to rob a store with a water nozzle when he was shot in the head. Apparently, he was not struck in any vital organs. *smirk*. No, seriously, unless you are struck in certain "core brain" locations, like the obdulla longota (sp?) ("brainstem") or the cerebellum ("hindbrain"), or cause a mechanical problem (loss of blood pressure due to massive bleeding, or loss of breathing capability, etc.)
What did he name the other leg?
Lived four days after being shot in the forehead by a .357Magnum? Hard headed SOB I suppose.
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