In the dramatic video of an attempted armed robbery of a gun shop in Springdale, Arkansas last week, one robber is wounded and the gunshop owner is hit by a spent bullet that doesn’t break the skin. The two suspects, Marcus Gould, and Leon Roberson, are from California and are both in custody. Gould has a long criminal record, and was wounded in the arm by a shot fired by store owner Shirley Cornett. A bullet fired back was slowed by coin books on the counter before it hit her . . .
Police said 25-year-old Marcus Gould and 20-year-old Leon Roberson are in custody after attempting to rob the store carrying semi-automatic pistols. They said the owner, Shirley Cornett, pulled out her .38 revolver and shot Gould in the arm as he was jumping over the counter towards her husband, Clint.
Owner Clint Cornett spoke to 5NEWS about the incident at their home Sunday night. Cornett said his wife was still very shaken up, and said the bullet that Gould fired back at her hit a stack of books on the counter, then hit her chest. He said the bullet did not break her skin.
A number of shots were fired during the robbery attempt. One or two by Cornett, at least one by Gould, and at least two by Roberson.
Roberson is in the red hoodie, Gould in the grey. If you watch the video carefully, you can see that Roberson is having trouble with his semi-auto. He repeatedly works the action, as if it were manually operated. He may not have had a round in the chamber when they entered the store.
As he leaves the store, the slide is locked back, indicating that he’s empty. It appears that he has only fired two shots. While not clear, he may have his eyes closed as he fires the first shot; the second seems to be an unexpected discharge into the floor.
As the pair of suspects enter the store, their appearance fairly screams danger, Will Robinson. They both have hoodies on, Gould also has some sort of cover over his head.
I wonder if an AR or shotgun in the hands of an employee or store owner behind the counter would have caused the pair to reconsider their robbery plans. It all happened very quickly, with less than a minute from the time they drew guns until they are out of the store.
There was a previous armed robbery attempt at the same store in 2010:
Bullets flew across Thompson Street on Tuesday after employees of a pawn shop thwarted an armed robbery. Shots fired at the robber zipped from C&S Gun Shop across Thompson and hit the plate glass window of P&N Oriental Market. Witnesses said shots also hit a silver or tan vehicle used as a getaway car.
Maybe word will spread though the criminal community that Shirley Cornett and her husband aren’t to be messed with.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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