"Don't worry. He won't get far on foot."
Posted on 07/25/2019 12:48:13 PM PDT by csvset
VIRGINIA BEACH
A bystander at a 7-Eleven on South Newtown Road early this morning shot two men robbing the convenience store, police said.
One of them is dead and the other was seriously injured. Both were wearing masks and carrying guns.
Another man police believe was involved was located a short distance from the store and has been taken into custody.
Police have not said whether they plan to charge the bystander. They said his gun was legal.
It happened just after 2 a.m. at the store located at 130 S. Newtown Road. Police believe the trio had robbed another 7-Eleven on Pacific Avenue around 12:30 a.m., taking cigarettes and smoking devices. Police believe they are responsible for other robberies as well, but didn't give details on those.
Before officers got to the scene on Newtown Road, a man who had been inside the store shot the suspects, police said.
Barrie Engel said she saw it happen.
Engel, who owns Coastal Cafe just a few minutes down the street, was giving a friend a ride home when he asked to stop for a Big Gulp. She requested nachos from her friend and they were about to pay at the register when the two men burst in, she said.
"I was standing right next to him at the counter when two gentlemen — armed, masked, robbers — came in the store with their guns up and told us to stay where we were, nobody move," she said.
"I did exactly that, I pretty much froze and looked at my friend and he looked at me, wondering, 'Is this really happening? Is this real?' " she said.
Then one of the masked men stayed near the door and the other went around the counter and started taking money out of the drawer and putting it in his pockets, she said.
"I was looking right at him and then I looked at the clerk, and the clerk raised his hands and said 'Come on man, don't do this.' And not sooner than he said that, I heard a gunshot and as soon as I heard the gunshot, I dropped down to the ground and put my hands over my head and started praying because I thought the guy shot the clerk," she said.
But it wasn't one of the two masked men who shot the gun. It was another man in the back of the store.
Engel didn't know that right away. She thought it was one of the robbers and thought they were "probably going to shoot everybody."
"I just started to pray and I feared for my life," she said. "After that shot it was like three shots, bam, then bam bam. It could have been two, two or three."
She and her friend looked at each other, and then she saw the man who came in behind them standing there. He said to her, "Nobody's gonna point a gun at me and get away with it," and she realized he was the one who shot the gun, she said.
She saw one of the masked men on the floor, dead, and the other behind the counter asking for help and was "shaking in my boots." Then police showed up.
Charges are pending against the man in custody, and the names of the man who died and the one injured have not been released by police.
Norfolk police believe the same men were involved in two other 7-Eleven robberies in their city early Thursday, said spokesman Daniel Hudson in an email.
At the first, around 1 am. at 3235 Chesapeake Blvd., the clerk told police three armed men entered the store and demanded money and the clerk complied. Then at 2 a.m. at 6667 E. Virginia Beach Blvd., two armed men entered the store and demanded money and the clerk there also complied, Hudson wrote. There were no injuries in either incident.
Engel said she's just thankful to get out of the 7-Eleven alive. Right afterward she called her son, a recent Kempsville High School graduate, and went and hugged him.
She said she had been considering getting a concealed carry permit, but thinks she would have been too nervous to use it.
She wants to know who saved them.
"Thank God for that guy because who knows what could have happened," she said. "I want to thank that guy personally. I want to buy him a steak dinner."
Virginia Beach police spokeswoman Tonya Pierce said she could only recall one other local incident where a bystander fired at someone committing a crime. In June 2017, a clerk at a 7-Eleven on Kellam Road shot a robber in the neck. Davin McClenney was left paralyzed by the incident. He pleaded guilty to that robbery and one other earlier this month.
The 7-Eleven clerk in that case was not charged
Yep, as a witness, I wouldn’t have consented to a interview.
I don’t think that will be a problem. If someone pointed a gun at him, he “removed the threat” which is generally a legal defense.
I agree it would have been better to say nothing, but...if someone is pointing a gun at someone who doesn’t have one...that is a clear threat to life. And who knows if you, as someone in the back of the store, wouldn’t be next.
Still, better to say nothing. Give no interviews.
bkmrk
I have long believed everyone not convicted of a crime (and with a few other exceptions) should be allowed to open carry.
If I wanted to sling a rifle over my shoulder and walk to work, I should be able to.
An armed society would be a politer society.
“He violated Rule #1. Don’t say a word. That may come back to haunt him.”
Everyone needs to know, and comply with, rule number 1, though some “experts” claim that “I was in fear for my life” is okay, and pointing out evidence is okay.
No he can’t find a store to Rob with a ramp.
“Two gentlemen?” I don’t think so. The hero shooter probably saved many lives by stopping the perps in their tracks.
Kudos to his courage to carry and to, ultimately, use his firearm to save lives.
PLUS it would have a positive effect on the performance of our elected officials.
Strange that ‘law enforcement’ didn’t state whether the robbers’ firearms were ‘legal’ or not.
If a good citizen removes the trash, who cares about the status of the firearm? I’m betting the clerk doesn’t.
That’s what works. So many juries now don’t have the stomach for it.
Incapaciated will cost the public money.
Hospital, jail,
Court appointed lawyer.
Dead will cost his family.
Let me guess, the bystander was white and the ones with the masks were Amish. No wonder the police arrested the bystander.
“He was doing what the police should have been doing.”
Naa, not in that situation - they can’t be everywhere 24/7 - that’s why concealed carry is so important. As long as the police don’t charge the guy, they’re doing their job, at least for this case.
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