Posted on 12/22/2008 9:01:18 PM PST by JustTheTruth
A store owner shot by a would-be robber is expected to make a full recovery following a shootout Saturday night in Chandler.
Police said two men walked into Christopher Diamonds at Chandler Boulevard and Coronado just before 7 p.m.
One had a gun and apparently tried to rob the place.
Police said Christopher Diamonds is a family run business and only three people were in the store at the time, including the owner, his wife and his son.
Another employee was outside the business.
Police said the owner, Rusty Uptain, grabbed a gun to defend his family and store.
A gun battle ensued and both Uptain and one of the suspects, 46-year-old Kevin William Murray, was shot.
Police said Uptain was shot in the face, but is expected to be okay.
Murray reportedly jumped into a stolen pick-up truck and fled the scene.
A police officer spotted the truck and chased him to the 101 and Broadway in Tempe.
That's where they said Murray died. [As he drove away, he died from two shotgun blasts, received in the store.]
At about 8:15 p.m., a police dog tracked the scent of the second robber, 27-year-old Kenneth Wayne Simpson Jr.
Officers peeled out of the parking lot and caught Simpson a few blocks away near a wash. [Rusty slipped in his own blood and fell, still largely blinded from the mace, when he went back looking for the second robber - who was peeing his pants somewhere inside the store... this gave the second guy the opportunity to escape until the police caught him ...]
Police said the suspects did not steal anything. [No, but they did say they were going to kill everyone... until Rusty pulled out the 12 guage.]
Family spokesperson Nancy Uptain told ABC 15, "My brother-in-law is an incredible marksman he's a hunter and we're very gratefully for our gun rights because with him being able to have his own protection he was able to save his family."
"These men came in and they had full intentions of killing the family and taking the jewelry," she said.
"It hit his nose the side of his nose and the corner of his eye." [Reportedly, the bullet hit his thick jeweler's glasses, smashed them, and was deflected into his nose. It fell out in the towel he held to his face as he talked with the police later.]
Doctors are confident they are able to save not only Uptain's vision, but his eye.
"Now that we know my brother-in-law is ok and everything is handled we're opening and we're gonna try and continue in the Christmas spirit and just keep on going on."
The business has reopened since the incident. [What's a few shotgun blasts around the place among friends?]
This is in Arizona, a Phx suburb, for those freepers not familiar with these place names.
Three cheers for Rusty!
Hip-hip, Horray!
Hip-hip, Horray!
Hip-hip, Horray!
"Welcome to Phoenix," I thought... Not a bad place to live. Lots of people with guns - and many of them with concealed carry permits... One wouldn't want to mess with the joggers, for example ... I've seen quite a few of them with pistols in their fanny packs.
Shotguns are funny that way it is hard to miss your target! All I can say to the would be robber that was shot is Good bye!
That is why I have a Mossberg 500 with pistol grips and an 18 1/2 inch barell
Thank goodness the store owner will likely make a full recovery.
Prayers for him and his family.
I have an old Sears side-by-side. The kind with two triggers!
I think I’m going to have to start carrying a European carry-all....
I go around town with a .45 cocked-and-locked in a belt holster a few times every year. Just because I can.
-ccm
Perps momma or priest:"He was such a good boy"He was trying SOOO hard to turn his life around.
and then a mean old jeweler with a shotgun destroys my poor boy's Hope and Change
And for what? just because some greedy old store clerk wanted to keep his stupid old diamonds?/ sarcasm
I think there ought to be a law that all law abiding citizens should own a gun. Some need to be trained to handle a gun though! Some can’t be trained!
Learn to live is the name of the game
So, they can save his vision AND his eye. It would be so much worse if they were only able to save his vision without saving his eye.
I've tried that - pretty hard on the wrist. I kept the barrel and went back to the stock stock.
Yeah those cases are sad where a guy loses his eye and only gets to keep his vision. < head in hands >
I respectfully disagree. The normal spread from my Mossberg 500 is between 2 and 3 inches at 15 feet. Not enough to make a real difference in most situations.
A shotgun will NOT save you from bad marksmanship.
People planning to use a shotgun for personal defense need to put in range time, just like handgunners, in order to be competent. I use mine at an indoor range and while I've had people complain about the noise, I've never known anyone to experience any bladder or bowel control problems upon hearing me rack a round into the barrel. Racking a shotgun will not intimidate a determined intruder into submission. Be prepared to shoot
Shotguns are not miracle weapons. If you hit someone with a 00 load you are not going to blow anybody to pieces. Be prepared for a follow up shot. This means learning to master recoil (through practice, at the range) and racking the gun while it's still on your shoulder.
Two things a shotgun does give you versus a handgun are a longer sight radius, which improves accuracy, and a whole lot of stopping power.
Excellent advice.
I’ve had to take several people to the range to prove to them with their own shotguns that the pattern just doesn’t open up as quickly as most people think.
In every case I insisted that they measure off a potential shot inside their house before departing for the range.
EVERY single time we get there and set up a target, the first thing out of their mouth is “Wow that’s close!”.
After that it’s rarely a surprise when the charge spreads only a few inches, especially when they’re using an Elmer Fudd gun as opposed to something more suitable for impromptu social engineering.
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