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Wednesday, January 2, 2008


WEAPONS OF CHOICE
Shopper pulls gun, stops robbery cold
Held suspect at grocery store until police officers arrived

A grocery store customer in Indianapolis is being credited with
halting
an armed robbery by pulling his own weapon and pointing it at the
assailant until police arrived.

According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Charlie Merrell, 51,
was
in a checkout line at a grocery store called Bucks IGA on the city's
south side when a "masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun
on
a store employee."

The police report cited by the newspaper said the incident happened
at
5:17 in the afternoon Monday as Merrell was doing some year-end
shopping.

"While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers," according to
the police report, "Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the
robber and ordered him to put down his weapon."

The newspaper noted that Officer Jason Bockting, in his documentation
of
the incident, said when the suspect seemed to hesitate, "Merrell
racked
the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber."


At that point, the report said, "the suspect placed his gun and a bag
of
cash on the counter, dropping some of the money . the suspect removed
his mask and lay on the floor."


Merrill, meanwhile, held the suspect at gunpoint until officers
arrived
and took him away in handcuffs.

Police reported Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, and
they recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun and $779 cash from
the
suspect.

Police records show Dwain Smith, 19, was being held in the Marion
County
Jail on a bond of $30,000 on initial charges of robbery, criminal
confinement, pointing a firearm, battery and carrying a handgun
without
a license.

-------------------------------------------------
Outstanding that the robbery was stopped by a CCW person.

That person needs a bit of instructions on using a weapon for such
things.

What was he doing pointing an unloaded weapon at the robber?

Lesson#1 - never point a gun at someone unless you plan to use it.

My first thought when reading this was that everyone there was lucky.
Had the robber's gun been loaded I can see an entirely different
ending.

Harry K

Harry K