“No good deed goes unpunished,” Oscar Wilde famously opined. In this case, the Korean-born owners of a beauty shop in Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri opted not to press charges against a pair of teenage thieves not once, but twice. And then paid the price. According to stltoday.com, the first time the pair boosted hair extensions . . .
“The couple got the items back and kicked the girls out warning them to stay away. They did not report the shoplifting to police. Later, the girls returned to the store and the couple called police, reporting a disturbance.
Police responded, spotted the girls on an adjacent parking lot, and took one of the girls into custody on a previous juvenile warrant. The other girl was released on a formal warning for trespassing, with the couple’s approval, [Detective Lt. Shawn] Applegate said.
Authorities believe that the girl who was released on a warning later returned to the store and shot the couple.
A witness saw her enter the store, “then less than a minute later came running out, swinging in her right hand a revolver as she ran,” Appelgate said. She was last seen in the area carrying the pistol and items believed taken from the store. She was running in the direction of the Castle Point neighborhood.
The couple are in critical condition. The parents of the shooter convinced their darling daughter to surrender to police. Friends of the couple — whose business was looted during the Ferguson riots — have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for their medical and other expenses. Meanwhile, know this . . .
Leniency towards those who hurt you or your loved ones — financially or physically — may make you feel better, but it’s not likely to make the perpetrator change their ways. Or prevent a subsequent “revenge” attack.
And if you face an imminent threat of grievous bodily harm or death, don’t let your “better nature” prevent you from attacking your potential or actual assailant with every bit of speed, surprise and violence of action, no matter what.