Here's the correct caption. Good story, btw.
Y'all be safe out there, there are too many scumbags out there.
Posted on 12/24/2002 8:16:06 AM PST by onceone
A Modesto sports memorabilia store owner shot and killed a gunman trying to rob the shop Monday afternoon, police said.
Detectives questioned and later released Dave Prendergast, 57, after the shooting, which happened at Dr. Sports Cards & Collectibles at 415 Burney St.
Evidence was inconclusive in determining whether detectives would recommend criminal charges be filed against Prendergast, Detective Phil Owen said.
The robber, who was shot once in the head, had not been identified late Monday, police spokesman Doug Ridenour said.
At 1:15 p.m., several witnesses heard two gunshots come from inside the downtown Modesto business. Moments later, a man with a black mask over his head stumbled out of the store and collapsed in the sidewalk.
Prendergast called 911 and told police there was a robbery in progress. He also told a dispatcher that he had shot the robber, Ridenour said.
Paramedics and firefighters arrived minutes later to find the robber lying on the sidewalk. They worked to revive him as a small crowd gathered behind the yellow police tape barrier.
The robber lay on his back, most of his clothing cut free, as paramedics took turns giving him CPR. He was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.
During an interview after the shooting, Prendergast told detectives the robber had been in the store earlier Monday and had purchased several items, Owen said.
The man returned in the early afternoon hours, looking around while he waited for other people to leave the store. Once the robber and Prendergast were alone, the robber approached the store owner and displayed a semiautomatic handgun, Owen said.
"He pulled the gun out and told (Prendergast) to get into the back room," Owen said. "The store owner said he thought the guy was going to kill him. His words were, 'I didn't want to be killed in the back room.'"
Instead of going to the back room, Prendergast told detectives he pulled out a semiautomatic handgun and fired two shots, Owen said.
One of the shots struck the robber in the face; the other shot missed, Ridenour said. The robber did not fire his gun, Owen said.
Several people who work in businesses along Burney Street described Prendergast as a man who quietly goes about his business.
Vishal Chunilal, who works at the Provision House liquor store next door to Dr. Sports, said Prendergast comes most days and buys a bag of peanuts. Also, Prendergast buys a lotto ticket each week for an elderly woman who cannot leave her home, Chunilal said.
"We've known him for about 10 years," Chunilal said. "He's always been a quiet guy. I can't believe he shot that guy. I'm afraid of what would have happened if (the robber) came here instead."
Since the robber had no identification, police still could not figure out who he was late Monday. Stanislaus County deputy coroner Rex Cline said he could not identify the man through fingerprint records.
The man was described as an adult male, possibly Hispanic, in his mid- to late-20s. He was about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed between 150 and 170 pounds. He had dark hair and a goatee.
He had a tattoo of a blue, circular-shaped dragon on his upper left chest, Cline said, and a partial tattoo on his upper right chest. There was a new, blue tattoo on his upper right arm, which also resembled a dragon, Cline said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Phil Owen at 572-9551.
Interesting photo caption in the linked article - the Bee considers the robber a shooting victim.
Oh well, this is California.
"If you're going to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."
Good Guys: 1
Bad Guys: 0
Merry Christmas you dirt bag!!!
Here's the correct caption. Good story, btw.
Y'all be safe out there, there are too many scumbags out there.
And once in awhile, the good guys win one!
FR carried three reports of dead scumbags today; this one, another in Chicago shot by an off-duty copper, and two bagged by the store clerk in a convenience store in Kansas City. So there's four less scumbags than yesterday. Merry Christmas, jerks! It's huntin' season, and there's no bag limit.
The man returned in the early afternoon hours ...
Moments later, a man with a black mask over his head stumbled out of the store and collapsed in the sidewalk.
Maybe it's just sloppy reporting, but wouldn't it be a little difficult to recognize the robber as a customer from earlier in the day when it's reported that he had on a mask?
Anyway, good shooting!
Follow your neighbor's example. Learn how to protect yourself. Sounds like a rightous head shot to me.
Not if you recognized the clothes he was wearing, his height, possibly his smell, etc. and eventually his FACE when the mask was removed for CPR.
He must have cover his face after every everyone left.......
Based on the report, I cannot see any basis for charges.
1) In Kalifornia, a buisness owner is allowed to have a concealed weapon.
2) The man used deadly force to defend himself in a situation were he had an honest and reasonable belief that he was in imminent danger of death.
Even that seems improbable to me. If the robber returned to the store with a mask on, wouldn't you think that the customers would've run screaming from the store? Or would've called the police after they left the store?
I still think that the article was sloppily written.
Clerks kill two would-be robbers at KC convenience store By JOHN SHULTZ Two store clerks in an east Kansas City convenience store turned the tables on a pair of armed robbers, shooting and killing both masked men Monday night, police said. The robbers -- both armed with guns -- burst into the store about 7:45 p.m., police Sgt. Tony Sanders said. One of them jumped over the counter of Robert's Super Market in the 4500 block of Truman Road. A clerk shot that man, who was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. The second robber began struggling with a second clerk. During the scuffle, that robber also was shot, apparently by the first clerk. The wounded man made it out of the store and fled. He later turned up at a hospital, where he died of his wounds. Police were investigating whether the man drove himself to the hospital or whether a third person was involved. Neither clerk was injured, and neither of the robbers was identified Monday night. Police separated the two clerks and took them in for questioning, Sanders said. Though the investigation was in its early stages Monday night, the circumstances suggested self-defense, Sanders said.
The Kansas City Star
No argument from me...I agree with you.
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