Posted on 12/16/2010 4:01:24 AM PST by marktwain
Surveillance video released by the Anaheim Police Department shows a liquor store clerk pulling a gun in self-defense during an armed robbery.
Two men walked into AC Liquor Store and Mini Market in the 1100 block of South State College Boulevard about 11 p.m. on Dec. 4, said Sgt. Rick Martinez of the Anaheim Police Department.
One of them, wearing a light-gray hooded sweatshirt, pulled out a what appeared to be a handgun and demanded cash, while the second man walked to the back of the store to grab two cases of beer.
The store clerk pulled out his own gun when the armed robber became distracted with retrieving the money on the counter, Martinez said.
“The clerk recognized he had a small window of opportunity,” Martinez said. “He was armed and pointed his handgun in self-defense.” The two men fled in what may have been a small dark pickup truck with a small amount of cash and two cases of beer, Martinez said.
The men were described as Latinos in their early 20s, one weighing about 200 pounds and the other with a slim build, Martinez said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
whoa - he had the drop on the punk and didn’t shoot. Not sure what I would have done but once my gun was aimed at his face...
He who hesitates is lost...
illegals.........????...naw, just locals who like beer,I suspect the next time, and there will be a next time, someone’s is going to die.
Darn Amish running amok again.
> Deciding to shoot/not shoot is difficult.
The clerk is an idiot. He should have killed the gunman when he caught him off guard. He had no way of knowing the gunman would run. He should have opted for the safest option, i.e., a dead armed robber.
Exactly! In a situation such as he was in (gun pointed at him), you don’t pull your gun unless you are going to pull the trigger and KILL the person who is threatening you!
Absolutely! You are exactly on point when you say the clerk had no idea what the criminal might do. I consider that clerk damned luck to be alive. I wonder if he knows how close he probably came to being a dead clerk.
I guess it will sound cruel or cold or whatever to the gun-hating crowd for us to say the clerk should have fired without hesitation, but in that brief moment when two armed men are face to face the clerk made a mistake, a mistake that could have cost him his life.
So why did he not shoot the guy?!?!?!?!? If you are going to point a gun at someone pointing a gun at you, you really should pull the trigger. The clerk is extremely fortunate the hoodie didn’t pull his own trigger.
At the risk of over analyzing, take a look at the clerks trigger finger. Safely pointed forward and off the trigger. He even seems to realize he’s pointing a loaded gun at somebody and pulls away! In a stress situation we do as we train. The guy has good handing skills and those are what took over in the heat of the moment.
I don’t advocate bad gun handling, but I think the guy has never thought about any of the ‘What Ifs’ of having a firearm ready for use, carried or on the shelf.
We can’t often sacrifice safe handling, but we can think ahead and ponder what if this, or what if that. I’ve often thought about a gun pointed at me, and like the clerk I’d be handing over cash in the traditional you say “Jump” I answer “How high?” mode. Beyond that, I’ve firmly put it into my head that should the chance offer itself that I can pull my own gun, in my mind anyway, the trigger will be pulled.
Never having had the chance to prove the theory it remains that. But I have good confidence that it will work.
Plus think about the two different messages sent to would-be robbers. Had he shot, he'd have probably been robbery-proof for five years. This way, he's probably MORE likely than the average store to get robbed, cause they know he doesn't want to shoot first.
At the risk of over analyzing, take a look at the clerks trigger finger. Safely pointed forward and off the trigger. He even seems to realize he’s pointing a loaded gun at somebody and pulls away! In a stress situation we do as we train. The guy has good handing skills and those are what took over in the heat of the moment.
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