Posted on 06/20/2012 5:36:06 AM PDT by marktwain
The couple in search of a car found the sedan they wanted for sale on Craigslist for $4,000. They arranged a meeting Monday night on a street in Bolton Hill lined with 19th-century rowhouses.
But Baltimore police said both the seller and the buyer took guns to the transaction. And when one of the men who posted the ad drew his weapon and demanded money from the prospective buyer, police said his female acquaintance pulled her own gun and fired into the air.
The gunman dropped his weapon on Bolton Street and the woman gave chase, "firing her weapon numerous times indiscriminately in the air," said city police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. No one was hit by gunfire, but police said they seized both guns and arrested the victim on weapons charges.
"We understand that this was a terrifying, frightening situation, but when you fire a gun into the air, you become part of the problem," Guglielmi said of the female victim in Monday's Bolton Hill attack. "The best thing to is to be a good witness and call the police."
The two men who tried to rob the couple escaped, and were described only as men in their 20s. City police said the holdup was linked to an earlier attack in which a 20-year-old man and two of his relatives were robbed and assaulted on Laurens Street in West Baltimore, also after answering an ad about a car for sale.
In May, police arrested a man in connection with a separate string of four armed robberies in Northwest Baltimore after they said he posted on Craigslist that he had coins to sell.
The spate of attacks linked to the popular Internet bartering site is prompting new warnings by police, urging people exchan"People are targeting others on Craigslist," Guglielmi said,
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
Firing into the air seems pretty dumb, though. For one thing it allows the continual waste of oxygen by the criminal.
She should have shot the dude dead. No question.
Firing into the air could have gotten her boyfriend killed, and the bullets have to come down somewhere, and at nearly the same speed as they went up.
Amish? Seriesly?
“The best thing to is to be a good witness and call the police.”
IDIOT!
The guy pulled a gun on them!
You can’t “be a good witness” or “call” WHEN YOU’RE DEAD!!
Got that? Be a good witness. Surrender your money, your possessions, maybe even your life, but don't you dare fight back or walk around armed.
After the crook leaves you with whatever he decides is not worth taking, call the police. I'm sure that within an hour or so, someone will be down to take a statement, which will be filed away and probably never be seen by human eyes again.
—Robbery prevented, no one hurt.—
That’s pretty much how I see it. I wonder if they keyed the guy’s car afterward...
The buyers lives were threatened. Do you have to a rocket scientist to understand?
1. Every bullet has a lawyer attached to it.
2.If you have reason to pull a gun, you have reason to fire it.
3.If you have reason to fire it, you had better be trying to stop the threat to yourself or others.
Conclusion: Warning shots are stupid, especially when the other person has ALREADY pulled out a gun.
The only reason to pull a gun is to plug the perp who is threatening you.
Given the city, the criminals get to keep their guns, but I suspect the victims guns are going to be stolen by the police.
In my area of KY a man tried to sell a gun on our local version of CL (yes, it’s awesome. You can sell guns and pets here with online want ads). The buyer tried to rip him off and ended up dead. It was ruled self defense. This one happened at the seller’s house.
And in other news, some people just tried to drive their cars last year and ended up dead. Over 40,000 of them.
Life is risk.
Yeah, part of “being a good witness” is to be alive to BE a witness.
One problem: Maryland is a "May Issue" state, where it's hard to get a permit, so it's likely she was carrying illegally. Killing a guy while in commission of a crime (illegal carry) might have turned out very badly for her in court. It being Baltimore, and the circumstances of the transaction, lead me to think that neither side were fine upstanding citizens with clean records.
Maybe the po-po would suggest firing with a Taser to render the criminal immobile.
Website needed: “Victim Was Arrested”.
Good as in, "the dead are silent witnesses." They never contradict themselves. Like on that forensics show. No thanks!
But shooting in the air was a bit batty. She's lucky both her and her boyfriend weren't killed. All's well that ends well, I guess. But that dude has got to find someone better to ride shotgun next time!
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