On August 1st, 2017, in Victorville, California, a suspect attempted to rob the Star Market on 7th St. In the image above, the armed robbery suspect is “fleeing” the scene. A clerk pulled out his gun, and the suspect took off. The suspect was armed and brandishing a gun when the clerk accessed his defensive weapon .
Many will tell you that once an attacker starts to flee, they are not a deadly threat and cannot be legally engaged with gunfire. In cases where the attack is committed with hands and feet, or with a contact weapon, that may be true.
It doesn’t apply to an attacker armed with a firearm or other weapon that can reach out and apply deadly force from a distance. An attacker may appear to be fleeing. They may be seeking a tactical advantage. They may turn and fire at any moment.
Armed with a weapon that is deadly at a distance, they are still a deadly threat. In the video, the “fleeing” suspect fires a shot at the clerk in the next fraction of a second. The shot shatters the store window, and no one was hit.
The robbery suspect was clearly a threat before he started to flee. The video is an illustration of the danger of a “fleeing” attacker armed with a firearm.
Do not assume, just because an attacker is moving away from you, that the threat has ended. In this case, the threat continued until the attacker was out of sight.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch