DeSantis Gunhide Question of the Day: Bank Robbery. Shoot or Don’t Shoot?

“A man entered a Wells Fargo bank in Homewood, Ala. with something wrapped around his arm to give the impression that he was armed, and attempted to rob the bank,” ammoland.com reports. “In addition to threatening bank staff, the robber pointed his arm at others inside the bank and made them get into a corner. Bank customer Eric Dial responded to the robber’s threats by drawing a gun and firing at the thief, but missing. The robber attempted to flee but was met by police just as he left the bank.”

For me, the critical factor is the crowding into the corner bit. In the same way that I would shoot if a robber started herding people into a back room, I would consider a massing of innocents a prelude to assassination. I would have shot then. Good guy Eric Dial said the perp was on his way out. According to Mr. Dial, that’s when the bad guy aimed his “gun” at him. Would you have opened fire before, at that point, or not at all?