Store owner arrested for shooting at gas theft suspects

The owner of an Andrews-area convenience store, accused of taking the law into his own hands after he witnessed an alleged gas drive off Wednesday, is charged with two counts of assault and battery with intent to kill. Dennis Cooper, 52, the owner of Cooper’s Six Mile Crossing Convenience Store allegedly chased and then fired shots at a vehicle after the driver reportedly drove off without paying for $28 worth of gas.

According to an incident report, the ordeal began about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday when 18-year-old Joshua Jennings, of Gray Court, S.C., and 18-year-old Jacob Skelly, of Fountain Inn stopped and pumped gas into the truck they were driving.

Cooper, who was inside the store, saw them start to drive away before they walked inside to pay, so he allegedly jumped in his SUV and gave chase.

The suspects drove down Highway 521 and onto Kent Road headed toward Highway 17A. When they got close to that intersection, Jennings and Skelly saw Cooper coming up behind them.

“This is when Cooper began firing shots at them as they turned left on US 17A and then right on Highway 521 trying to avoid the gunshots,” Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Neil Johnson said. “Cooper continued to chase and fire shots striking the vehicle in the back glass.”

When Skelly, the passenger, began screaming he had been shot, Jennings pulled over.

Deputy Kevin Holt was the first officer on the scene. When he arrived he saw Cooper holding the two men on the ground at gunpoint. Skelly, who was bleeding from his head, “was begging to get treatment from EMS,” Holt reported. When the medical team arrived, it was determined Skelly had not been hit by a bullet but by glass from the broken truck window. He was transported to the hospital for treatment. Jennings was uninjured. There was one bullet hole in Jennings’ truck, according to Johnson.

Jennings said when he stopped his truck, he tried to check on Skelly but Cooper “slapped him in the head, so he got down on the ground,” Holt’s report states. All three men were arrested. Jennings and Skelly were charged with for failure to pay for gasoline. Cooper’s .45 automatic was placed into evidence. He was released from jail Thursday under a $40,000 bond.

Hi LowOil-

"...I usually skip those [prepay] places and prefer the normal pay places..."

Prepay is easy. What is the reason for your preference? Just select "fill" on the pump and put in as much (or as little) gasoline as you want. I do this all the time with my motorcycle...even though it will only accept about $10.00 if it is completely empty.

The proprietor should have thought of a better solution than shooting at people over an unpaid bill. If I was on the jury he wouldn't get convicted because I'm sure those kids have been dirtbag thieves for years...but he might not get so lucky with his jury.

~ Blue Jays ~

Prepay is easy. What is the reason for your preference?

I don't use credit cards... So often to fill my car/truck up I end up standing in line twice. It is funny to watch the older generation try to figure out new fangled prepaid stuff. They horse around for 5 minutes trying to figure out what is wrong, all the while having the attendent holler at them thru the intercom that it is prepay only.

Also I imagine it costs the convenience stores money because a lot of purchases are made last second with the change given in stores after sales. I am guilty of this when I have a kid with me, 18 dollars of gas, get the kid a drink (and get a smile) with the change from the 20. I don't do this with pre-pay places. That seems to be the stores major argument when being forced to go to prepay only as a lot of towns have forced on c-stores.

Easy to tell how you measure expense. :-)

Comes from being an ex small business owner - expense means $$$.

Your list only makes it halfway through just how expensive this is likely to be for the dimwitted Cooper.

Using the word expensive in the broader sense, yeah. I just wanted to make the point. But I would not at this point call him dimwitted - probably he was enraged, and not prepared. In other words, I have a quick temper, but while I would have been in even more trouble than him if I had used my .45 in Canada for any kind of protection of property, I did have a very unusual permit for a Colt Commander on my shop premises, so that I could go direct to a range without returning home.

Therefore I worked through all the scenarios that might occur where I might be tempted to go for it, and prepped myself not to do what he did - reach for a gun in a case of petty theft.

And I'm not saying the guy had no business defending his property on his property. His mistake is pursuing them, armed, onto the state's.

Last year we had a local c-store owner lose his life pursuing a thief of about the same amount. He grabbed on to the thief's car screaming stop stop stop ! He was thrown off and run over, dead within a few minutes. The fellow never stopped, it took over a year to find him (he finally turned himself in, after they were getting close to finding him). BTW.. he was also pulled onto "state" property... Guess that should of saved his life, guess the thief forgot to play by the rules...\ What is he "gasp" actually pulled off the perp's door handle or broke his glass trying to get the perp to stop.. had he lived would we be fining him today for trying to stop from being robbed?

Article below to prove what I say is true...

http://209.157.64.201/focus/f-news/1467933/posts

Also the c-store's property didn't stay on his property, his property was transfered. Just because something is moved, does not force you to lay down your rights of ownership and citizen's arrest powers. What is state's property, it is as much his as it was mine, not "States" property, but owned by law-abiding tax payers such as this c-store mans.

Most places now have surveillance cameras photoing drive-offs and losing one's DL is one of the penalties for failing to pay.

I guess you saw on TV the other day, that lady mayor that had her purse stolen from her car at a gas station. It was caught on camera, but I watched it and can honestly say, I can't give you a description of the perps. Grainy poor quality surveillance cameras leave a lot to be desired IMHO. But I guess that is ok, they only took her purse with credit cards and about 15 dollars. Besides she should of had her own camera in her car, because she didn't, she deserves everything she got according to your line of reasoning. Her thief's are still on the loose BTW... and it was caught on camera.

If he didn't have security cameras, $28 should've meant nothing to him.

That perplexes me the most about your post... what exactly is the dollar amount that "means something" to him??? Thief is thief, dollar amounts are only what us mortals use to give degrees of sin to crime.. There is no degrees of stealing to God, 1 million dollars to one person may equal 28 dollars to another, so basically you are discriminating against those of lesser means that have less to lose (but who value what they have more).

So what is the value you assign to a thief before it becomes defend-able to try and stop? Right now, 28 dollars is a lot of money for my family to lose.

If he didn't have security cameras, $28 should've meant nothing to him. Proverbs 17:15 15 Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent— the LORD detests them both.

Perhaps it wasn't the dollar amount, it was a matter of principle, a principle of right and wrong that you seem to have no regard of. When does "should've meant nothing" become "should've meant something".. it is a dollar amount that varies in varies from person to person in your perspective. I think a thief should be stopped whether the amount was 10 cents or 10 million. The amount should not be the question asked.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.