An armed robber who had a shotgun and zip ties targeted a local pharmacy this morning. Fortunately, the owner takes security seriously and has a video surveillance system that allowed him to see the shotgun before the robber got into the store. The owner also had a gun that he pulled, and he fired at the surprised bad guy.
I think the best part of this encounter is that the owner quickly called the police who could catch the getaway driver who was still waiting outside since he figured his buddy would be a while – trying to clear out the entire pharmacy after at least taking the owner hostage, if not killing him. Easy arrest, and hopefully easy clean-up inside.
UPDATE: And our really, really local outlet reports that the van was stolen out of New Jersey.
UPDATE II: And now we have the folks coming out that says the shotgun-toting robber with zip ties was engaged in a non-violent offense and didn’t deserve to be shot despite his willingness to shoot his victim. When I looked at the rest of the page, it didn’t appear to be a parody account. He seems to really believe that the pharmacist defending his own life committed murder.
And for the record, my right to bare arms is my right to wear sleeveless shirts and dresses. My right to bear arms, however, protects my right to defend myself from armed robbers ready to kill over access to drugs.
UPDATE III: And this is why I voted for our DA:
District Attorney David Heckler wholeheartedly agreed.
“There is no thought that we would prosecute the shooter in this case. He was entirely justified in his conduct, and frankly should be commended,” Heckler said.
“From what I can see, he performed a public service in taking out this fella,” Heckler continued. “The fella asked for what he got and he got it.”
UPDATE IV: And, it gets even better. The getaway driver admits he’s a criminal on probation – driving a stolen car to an armed robbery. It will be curious to see how long his record is back in New Jersey, as well as that of the dead thief who has yet to be identified.
Everytown will report this as an unfortunate “victim” of “gun violence” in 3…2….1…
Van stolen out of NJ you say? Nah, just fell off the truck is all.
Further proof that PA would have less crime if NJ would enact stricter laws to prevent the flow of illegal vans across the border.
Doesn’t the get-away driver fall into the felony murder category?
Or am I missing something?
The driver is being charged with homicide. When I mentioned probation, that was for another crime he has already been convicted of which hasn’t been reported in any news I’ve read. I was noting that as a criminal already on probation, he stole a car (or at least drove a stolen car) and voluntarily served as the getaway driver for an armed robbery.
“And this is why I voted for our DA”
And the reason I have never voted for Heckler is because as a Republican state senator he was one of the prime sponsors/authors of PA Act 17 of 1995, arguably the last really comprehensive gun control bill to pass in Pennsylvania. Heckler partnered with state senator Vincent Fumo (D-Philadelphia) to author and ram the bill through.
The kind of grandstanding represented by his “public service” comment is nothing but cheap, throwaway politics that wows the troops while delivering nothing of real value.
I’m quite sure the pharmacist finds it to be a real value that he won’t have to bankrupt himself with attorney fees to defend himself in court. Even not having to pay for an attorney for a lengthy investigation that he could fear might end in charges is something I’m sure that the pharmacist values. It’s an important signal to people that self-defense is accepted in Bucks County, and that most certainly has some value. You may not consider it much, but I think having the local top prosecutor make clear statements in support of defending yourself with arms is of major value.
“I’m quite sure the pharmacist finds it to be a real value that he won’t have to bankrupt himself with attorney fees to defend himself in court.”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not faulting Heckler for what he in fact did in this case. I’m saying that his public statement on the incident was calculated grandstanding by someone who has stabbed us in the back in the past.
We are not well-served by mistaking someone who for current political purposes, we have by the short hairs, for an authentic Good Guy. As soon as we lose our grip, our posturing Good Guy will be first in line to stab us in the back again.
I have an example that illustrates a scumbag grandstanding and yet being regarded as a good guy because he did.
In the mid-1990s a delegation of us from the Bucks County Sportsmens Coalition went to visit County Sheriff Larry Michaels (R) to encourage him to decline to enforce the constitutionally questionable portions of the Brady Law that had been identified and challenged by Sheriff Richard Mack. Michaels essentially told us to go jump, saying the Brady Law enabled him to do things he wanted to do and constitutionality was something he didn’t care about.
A short time later Michaels instituted an unlawful “doctors note” requirement as part of the application process for handgun carry permits. It required a medical doctor to attest to an applicant’s mental health, whether that was the doctor’s field of expertise or not. For that reason many doctors declined to provide the service. I successfully challenged the policy in court.
The point of both stories being, our sheriff was not a pro-gun good guy.
At that time I would frequently have gun owners call me up just to shoot the bull and beat my ear. Not too long after my court challenge, a guy called me up and began raving about what a solid pro-gun guy we had for a sheriff. I just listened. His reasoning was, that when he got his handgun permit, the sheriff had quipped to him that it came with a “nigger-back guarantee.” If he shot a “nigger” with his gun, the sheriff promised to give him back his application fee. That, in my caller’s opinion, made the sheriff a really pro-gun guy. My caller had no knowledge at all of the sheriff’s other antics with the handgun permitting process, though my case had been adequately and mostly accurately covered in the local media. (The sheriff had styled himself in the press as “standing up to the NRA,” though the NRA was nowhere to be found.)
So, our anti-gun sheriff, by sizing up his audiences on a case-by-case basis and adjusting his grandstanding accordingly, remained in the regard of the average gun owner a solid, pro-gun stalwart.
Does DA Heckler have an assistant named Koch?