In an unusual defensive gun use out of Indianapolis, the owner of a furniture store was confronted by a man pointing a handgun at him and demanding money. The store owner, Doyle Stinson, gave him the $10 he had on hand. Although he was being held at gunpoint, Stinson was apparently confident that the holdup man’s gun wasn’t loaded:
“I knew when he pulled the hammer back on the automatic weapon there wasn’t a bullet in the chamber,” said Stinson. “I know the sound.”
“I know you’ve got more money than that because this is a business,” the suspect then said, according to Stinson, and began walking him around the store, which you can see in the video. Stinson played along. Discreetly, he activated his alarm system’s silent emergency button and retrieved his own (loaded) weapon.
Once he took aim at the suspect, the man panicked and fled the store, as can also be seen in the video. Stinson had held his fire partly out of concern for the safety of a bystander, a young boy who he glimpsed through the store window.
“If you’re shooting a 40 caliber, it’s going to go through him, through this merchandise, through that window, and what’s beyond that window,” said Stinson. “He’s got a lot more to live than me. That’s true, that’s a little boy there.”
That didn’t mean he was willing to let the suspect get away. A neighboring store owner pulled up just as Stinson ran out his door and let Stinson in the car, at which point the two chased the suspect for as long as they could.
The suspect has not been found, and he still has the $10. You can check out the news segment with the brief interview here:
