Posted on 03/17/2006 6:02:42 AM PST by Full Court
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![]() Auto parts owner, 74, opens fire on robbersFriday, March 17, 2006
CAROL ROBINSON News staff writerA 74-year-old Birmingham shop owner stared into the barrel of a gun inches from his face Thursday, but said he felt no fear. Joe Montabana could see there were no cartridges in the cylinder of the snub-nosed revolver. It was brandished by a bad guy and pointed straight at him. Montabana got angry. And he fought back. The longtime owner of Joe's Auto Parts near the Kingston community grabbed his own revolver, and moments later unleashed five shots toward the would-be robber. "When he saw my gun, he went out the door really quick." The fleeing man jumped into a waiting car occupied by two others. It was unknown whether anyone was injured; police were watching area hospitals to see if any gunshot victims would show up. Montabana said it began when the man came into his 47th Street North store about 1 p.m. and asked him to duplicate a key. Montabana turned his back on the customer briefly, and when he turned back around the man had pulled the gun. "He said something like `this is a robbery' or `you know what this is,' and he said `go around to the cash register,"` Montabana said. "I saw all the chambers were empty, so I just walked back behind the counter and got my own gun." The robber immediately dashed for the front door. Montabana followed him and, once outside, opened fire. "I just walked right here and started shooting," Montabana said, showing where the getaway car had been parked. "If I didn't hit the car, I don't know how I missed it." Montabana opened the shop in 1965. The only previous trouble for his business happened 20 years ago, he said, when someone robbed the business, firing shots at his wife, who works there with him. He seemed relatively unscathed by Thursday's event and said he had no qualms about firing his gun. "He was robbing me. All I'm upset about is my damn lunch got cold." E-mail: crobinson@bhamnews.com
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Thank G-D for people like Joe Montabana!
"He was robbing me. All I'm upset about is my damn lunch got cold."
Gotta love the old coot. I want be like him when I grow up...In about ten years! :-)
Note to crooks. Put bullets in gun before entering store..........
Good point. And one would have to assume that might be the case.
Yep, he might be operating under Barney Fife restrictions.
Yeah, I hate it when I get ready to rob a store and find myself with only one bullet for my revolver.
That's when you know times are tough.
Ut oh, the store owner has made a law-suit impending mistake. He said he could tell that the robber's gun was unloaded, therefore his life wasn't in jeopardy, yet he turns cowboy and pulls out his own pistol anyway!
Cops here killed a scumbag the other night who had robbed a convenience store, then shot at cops. The world is just a bit safer with another perp gone.
The robber could of easily pistol whipped the old guy and killed him. The pistol would of cracked the old, thin skull like an egg.
The old guy did right.
Now now, you're thinking like a rational person. You MUST think like a liberal lawyer!
Food drive in man...don't ever underestimate it....
ask my wife..she knows about such things..in men..and GSDs
Depends. If'n the goblin was firin' double action, you don't care about the chamber lined up with the barrel - you care about the next one in the sequence.
If he was firin' single action, and had already cocked the weapon, then, well, are ya feelin' lucky?
Joe and his dad ran a sevice station near my home in the fifties. I worked some for them and they were a class act. Joe was a fine man and I am glad to know he is still working.
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