“Farris Cole, the owner of Cole’s Sundry Grocery convenience store, said he spent the night in his shop after multiple break-ins,” wmcactionnews5.com reports. “Cole said his store was broken into through the roof earlier this week, and several items were stolen including ice pops and beer.” Guess what happened next?
Cole said the suspects returned, but this time he was ready.
“They come across the top of the building; they come in, and when they come in, I sat there waiting on them,” Cole said. “And when they did I said ‘I’ve been waiting on y’all for a long time.’”
Uh . . . setting a trap for burglars who steal beverages? Maybe that’s something the cops should do? Or perhaps Mr. Cole should have erected barriers to entry. Or installed an alarm.
In any case, Mr. Cole was a man with a plan. An armed man. And you know what they say about plans and first contact with the enemy . . .
“They walked around there and I put it on them and made them lay in the floor,” Cole said. “And while they were laying in the floor, he was trying to get a hold of his gun to shoot me, and I shot him in the ear. I thought I had killed him because I turned him over, he was hollering you know, you shot me in the ear. So about that time, the police got here.”
Police said the suspect who was shot was taken to the Panola Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries, and the other was taken to the Desoto County Juvenile Facility.
Both face charges of burglary and larceny. At this time, Cole does not face any criminal charges.
The report doesn’t mention whether or not the young miscreant was, indeed, armed.
And while we have plenty of examples of a police officer avoiding prosecution for shooting someone the cop thought had a gun, I suspect that Mr. Cole would have faced severe legal consequences if he had put a bullet into the young thief’s brain.
So, while the result is satisfactory, I reckon the process disqualifies Mr. Cole from kudos. You?