In Claxton, Georgia on Sunday, am armed stick-up man attempted to rob a Shell Food Mart at about 4 a.m. It didn’t turn out as well as he expected. The clerk on duty at that early hour was armed, too. “Surveillance video shows the suspect approach the counter, pull out a hand gun, and start waving it around. (Rick) Patel then reaches under the counter and pulls out his own gun.” Patel chased the would-be holdup man front the store . . .
The suspect ran and Patel is seen on video chasing him out of the store. Patel said the suspect’s gun went off as he ran toward the self storage business next door. Patel said he’d do it again if he had to.
This sort of incident has been seen over and over again. It’s fairly common for crimes to be stopped by armed citizens. What’s seen less often is the attitude of the store owner:
“I’m really proud,” said Shell Food Mart owner Bhinder Singh Dhiman. “Whatever he did I’d like if everybody started doing it that way, the robbery will be stopped, especially for convenience stores.”
Singh is exactly correct. The effect of disarming yourself so as not to present a threat to armed robbers only encourages more armed robbery. It’s why ransoms shouldn’t be paid to kidnappers. It encourages more kidnapping.
On a larger scale, Rudyard Kipling captured the essence this principle in his poem, Danegeld:
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say:“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
The robber in this story held up five stores that night, and got money from three of them.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Gun Watch
Judging by the owners and employees names I’m going to go out on a limb and guess they’re from a deep rooted warrior culture. Keep insurance companies and corporate lawyers in check and more company people would have the option to fight back.
Sounds like at least one of the men is a Sikh; if so, very cool people as a group. It’s part of their religion to carry a knife and they have a long history of being fierce warriors. They believe all religions can bring enlightenment to their followers. We have a lot of Sikhs out here in New Mexico. One of their main temples is up north of Albuquerque.
It looked like he had to chamber a round.
Looked like it to me too. but he was fast enough, I guess.
I think so, too. But it might have been a holster he was pulling off.
Yup. While I know its a personal choice, great example of why you should always keep one in the pipe. If you NEED to pull the weapon, you need to shoot asap. Racking one might get you killed.
Was I the only one that got a big grin on his face when that clerk pulled out his gun?
Better a pistol than a Slim-Jim.
He robbed 5 stores in one night and none of them got lead into him? Sounds like these stores need to invest in some better security (not just firearms for all their employees.) and the police need to leave the office once in a while and do some patrolling!
Hitting five places in one night is a high-risk move; sometimes they pay off.
You actually raise another point: the police couldn’t protect anyone, even with a known armed robber on the loose.
Kind of reminds me of getting my CHL. I was in a Texas Gov class and the professor assigned an “understanding government” project of some sort. One of the options (that the prof strongly recommended) was getting a CHL, and I picked that in a heartbeat. Well I told the owner of the company I work for about it, next day he asks for the receipts and pays for the whole thing, class, prints etc. Pretty great.
Good Job, but this guy should invest in a holster.
If sumdood walks into my store at 0400 wearing an arctic parka in the middle of August, I’m pretty sure that I’ll have my sights all but lined up on him before he even gets half way to the counter when I ask him “How may I help you?”.
Unfortunately you can’t usually sit behind the counter and watch the door. Graveyard shift usually does all the drudge work, cleaning the bathroom, stocking, trash, inventory etc. The only way to really be secure is lock the doors and serve everyone thru a security partition.
Good to see that the employer supports his employee! Too often it is then time for the good guy to find a new job. I will not give business to a company when I find out they shaft their own employee for protecting himself.
Edit: noticing the name of the town, maybe the bad guy was just a fruit cake! LOL
“Oh yessir, we deal in lead here!”
Is it just me or was the criminal rather lucky that the brave store clerk is not that familiar with semi-auto handguns, because it looks like up to ten seconds in the video the robbers slide is locked open. Granted I notice that fact having a calm blood pressure, and no adrenaline coursing through me whilst sitting in my recliner. The most important thing though is the clerk had a gun, and chose not to be a victim.
Anyone notice Store “Clek”?
Seems like the clerk should have pulled the trigger right away. The robber’s gun was pointed right at him. The only reason he didn’t get shot was this particular criminal wasn’t willing to become a murderer. The robber also didn’t do anything when outright refused at another store.
What he said. You don’t point a gun to scare.
I would have started shooting.. The is no room for a bluff in a gun stand off.
“Whatever he did I’d like if everybody started doing it that way, the robbery will be stopped, especially for convenience stores.”
+1,000,000
This is not what would be taught in any defensive pistolcraft class. You should seek cover and then shoot to eliminate the threat. This was just a standoff that could have ended very badly for the clerk.
I wonder how many of us would react correctly according to best tactical practices, and how many of us would hesitate when it came to actually pulling the trigger?
I clerked at a Stop and Rob in Arizona, I mean, Convenience Store, many years ago. The employee handbook stated that bringing weapons to work was discouraged but not forbidden.
It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a weapons policy that wasn’t “bring a gun to work, you’re fired.”
Did many of you notice the price on gas? $3.19! I’m leaving on the next bus!
Heh, prices are around the same or cheaper here in Texas. In fact, I saw a $3.09 when I was out with lunch, probably should go by there and fill up tonight before it goes up for the holiday weekend.
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