Posted on 03/25/2009 8:10:46 AM PDT by DCBryan1
Dentist opens fire on purse snatcher
Police say he shot as wife fought mugger
BY ANDY DAVIS ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Going to the aid of his wife as she and an armed man struggled over her purse in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in west Little Rock on Monday night, a 63-year-old dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver and opened fire, striking the would-be robber in the buttocks, police said Tuesday.
Jonathan Terry, 24, of England fled but was found a short time later seeking treatment at the UAMS Medical Center. When he is released from the hospital, police said, they plan to charge him with aggravated robbery.
The dentist, John Antonetz of Little Rock, who works for the Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System, had a permit to carry a concealed handgun, police said. Officers will forward information about the shooting to prosecutors for a decision on whether it was justified, police said.
About 62,000 people in Arkansas, including about 4,100 in Little Rock, have concealed handgun permits, according to the Arkansas State Police. The number of applications for such permits has spiked in recent months, a development that handgun instructors attributed to fear that the federal government will curtail gun rights under President Barack Obama and to the publicity surrounding the murder of KATV news anchor Anne Pressly.
Little Rock police spokesman Sgt. Cassandra Davis said the department generally discourages people from using force to fend off robbers.
“You are not familiar with this person. They may have an accomplice. They may be more skilled than you are,” Davis said. “In this incident, Antonetz did not get injured, but he could have.”
Instead, Davis said, she would recommend that people cooperate with the robber and “be a good witness,” paying attention to what the robber looks like, remembering what he says and making note of the weapon he uses and the vehicle he drives.
“In most instances, if an individual just gives them what they want without any resistance, in most cases, the suspect just flees with the property,” Davis said.
But Jack Acre, who owns a Little Rock security company and teaches a course on handgun safety, said that sometimes using force is the safest option. It’s up to the gun owner to judge the circumstances, he said.
“Some people want to just give them their money and hope that will end it, and maybe it would end it, but you never know in that situation whether it would or not,” Acre said.
According to police, Antonetz and his wife, Lydia Pace-Antonetz, were loading groceries into their sport utility vehicle at the store at 19301 Cantrell Road just before 11:30 p.m. when a man wearing a wig and a cap approached the vehicle, pulled out a silver revolver and announced a robbery.
The couple ran from the man, but he pointed the gun at Pace-Antonetz and grabbed her purse. As they struggled, the man struck Pace-Antonetz and repeatedly pointed a gun at her and her husband, police said.
A police report said Antonetz “went to the passenger side of the vehicle and retrieved his revolver from his concealed holster in his pants.”
Antonetz then went to the back of the vehicle and began firing. The would-be robber fell to the ground, then got into a white Dodge Intrepid that had pulled into the parking lot. Antonetz had fired at least four shots, including one just before the assailant sped away in the car, police said.
A short time later, UAMS Medical Center notified police that a gunshot victim had arrived at the emergency room. At the hospital, police found Terry, as well as Tequila Rice, 22, of Lonoke and Sherry Battles, 24, of North Little Rock, who police say had taken Terry to the hospital. Rice and Battles were arrested on aggravated robbery charges and were taken to the Pulaski County jail. Their bail had not been set Tuesday.
Dina Tyler, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Correction, said Terry was on parole for a burglary conviction. Further details of the case weren’t immediately available.
Pace-Antonetz, who answered the door at the couple’s brick, two-story home in Little Rock’s Pleasant Valley neighborhood, declined a request for an interview Tuesday. A woman who lives across the street described them as “a good Catholic family” who attends nearby Christ the King Church on Rodney Parham Road. The couple has two grown sons, neighbors said.
Under Arkansas Code Annotated 5-2-607, deadly force can be used in self-defense if a person reasonably believes that an attacker is about to commit a felony “involving force or violence” or if the attacker is “using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force.” The same law also states that deadly force cannot be used in self-defense in situations where an individual can retreat “with complete safety.”
To obtain a concealed-handgun permit, an applicant must pass a background check, complete a course on handgun safety and demonstrate proficiency with a firearm.
Already this month, the Arkansas State Police has received more than 3,000 applications for permits, compared with 1,429 in March of last year, said Bill Sadler, a spokesman for the agency. In January and February, the agency received 5,513 applications, almost double the number from the same period the year before.
In response to the increased interest, the Shooter’s Gallery in North Little Rock last fall began holding handgun safety courses every week, instead of every other week. Terry Skinner, the firing range’s manager, said some applicants are concerned about Obama, while others were shaken by the death of Pressly, who was beaten and raped at her home in Little Rock’s Heights neighborhood in October.
Skinner said he teaches his students that, if they’re being robbed at gunpoint, they use their gun to defend themselves if they have the chance.
“If you’ve got the opportunity to pull the gun out, you take the opportunity to shoot at the same time,” Skinner said. “The gun does you no good if you don’t use it.”
This makes my blood boil!
First, the violent, armed robber survived! Shooter should be sentanced to more range time!
Second is the shoddy journalism. The dentist didn't open fire on a simple purse snatcher....
HE OPEN FIRED ON A VIOLENT FELON (OUT ON PAROLE) HOLDING A GUN TO HIS WIFE'S HEAD!
If he was a simple "purse snatcher" he would have simply strong armed the woman, but he was there and ready to kill her.
Be sure to contact Andy Davis on his shoddy journalism at:
http://www2.arkansasonline.com/staff/andy-davis/contact/
You da man!
Instead, Davis said, she would recommend that people cooperate with the robber and “be a good witness,” paying attention to what the robber looks like, remembering what he says and making note of the weapon he uses and the vehicle he drives.
Watch out Doc...the Little Rock Mafia may still be alive and well.....
I'm sick of these crimmigrants coming in here and breaking our laws.
Tough to be a good witness when you’re DEAD.
Sounds like he needs some range time. We all need to make sure that we save the state money by hiting dead center.
Corrected Link to story: http://www2.arkansasonline.com/news/2009/mar/25/dentist-opens-fire-purse-snatcher-20090325/?subscriber/national
I don’t get it....the man is a dentist and should be use to drilling people in the head....
....Lousy sense of direction Doc.
“Crimmigrants.” I like that.
see # 9
I agree. Criminals from England Arkansas should commit their crimes in England, not Little Rock.
“We want people to be sheeple.”
Instead, Davis said, she would recommend that people cooperate with the robber and “be a good witness,” paying attention to what the robber looks like, remembering what he says and making note of the weapon he uses and the vehicle he drives.
Baa-Baaa!
Hehe YA BEAT ME TO IT!
Can you or joe post the self defense study statistics that show that it is actually safer to resist, or better yet, use a firearm?
Thanks!
I hope he shot him in the behind from the front! It’s bad form to shoot from behind, ya know.
“dentist pulled out a .357-caliber revolver”
Now, this may sting a little ....
(a)A person is justified in using deadly physical force upon another person if the person reasonably believes that the other person is:
(1)Committing or about to commit a felony involving force or violence;
(2)Using or about to use unlawful deadly physical force; or
(3)(A)Imminently endangering the person's life or imminently about to victimize the person as described in § 9-15-103 from the continuation of a pattern of domestic abuse.
(B)As used in this section, “domestic abuse” means the same as defined in § 9-15-103. (b)A person may not use deadly physical force in self-defense if he or she knows that he or she can avoid the necessity of using deadly physical force with complete safety:
(1)(A)By retreating.
(B)However, a person is not required to retreat if the person is:
(i)In the person's dwelling or on the curtilage surrounding the person's dwelling and was not the original aggressor; or
(ii)A law enforcement officer or a person assisting at the direction of a law enforcement officer; or
(2)By surrendering possession of property to a person claiming a lawful right to possession of the property.
(c)As used in this section, “curtilage” means the land adjoining a dwelling that is convenient for family purposes and habitually used for family purposes, but not necessarily enclosed, and includes an outbuilding that is directly and intimately connected with the dwelling and in close proximity to the dwelling.
History.Acts 1975, No. 280, § 507; A.S.A. 1947, § 41-507; Acts 1997, No. 1257, § 1; 2007, No. 111, § 1.
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