Monday night a clerk in a Brooklyn, New York grocery store was attacked by a man with a knife. The clerk was carrying a firearm and shot the attacker, 25-year-old Edwin Candelario, Jr., who also worked at the store, killing him. Candelario had reportedly returned to the store to retrieve his keys.
As CBSN New York reports, there’s security video of Candelario, Jr. approaching the clerk with a knife and the blade was found at the scene.
There’s only one problem. The un-named 34-year-old clerk didn’t have a permit to carry a gun. That’s because he lives in a city that only issues concealed carry permits to those who are wealthy or well-connected. So while this was yet another successful defensive gun use, it wasn’t a legal one.
The clerk has been arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm.
Candelario’s family can’t understand why the clerk killed him.
“He could’ve shot him in the leg. He could’ve pushed him. Why did he have to shoot him five times? That’s murder,” said Luz Sanchez, the victim’s aunt.
New York’s “may issue” system for issuing carry permits has been notorious for its graft and corruption. So-called “expeditors” have given prosecutors and cops cash, hookers and vacations to get their clients permits.
Someone who works a job with a higher risk of possible trouble — someone like a lowly Brooklyn grocery store clerk — doesn’t have a prayer putting together the scratch needed to pry loose a carry permit from the city that would allow him to carry a firearm legally to protect himself on the job.
And that’s exactly the way New York’s powers that be want it.