Don't rob Joe's pawn in Oklahoma (vid)

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It ended relatively well, but if the there are three guys (one with a gun) threatening multiple employees, I'm not so sure it is a smart thing to do. He obviously didn't get a one stop shot. What if the criminal gunman had pulled the trigger right in the manager's face? The owner either needs to spend some more time at the range, get a bigger caliber weapon, or consider whether his manager or his money is more important. (Granted, he may very well feel that the money is more important) He was lucky.
My .02
 
The owner either needs to spend some more time at the range, get a bigger caliber weapon, or consider whether his manager or his money is more important. (Granted, he may very well feel that the money is more important) He was lucky.
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What a stupid thing to say. I could care less about the money. I felt that the lives of my employees were in danger. They had given him all the cash and he was still waving the gun around. I have been training with guns since I was a kid. My manager had ducked out of my line of fire and the bad guy's gun was not pointed at anyone specifically. You can see from the video that there is a pretty big delay between the start of the robbery and the first shot. I was aware of my manager being in the line of fire and did not take the shot. When he stepped way back and ducked behind some shelves, the shot became safe to take. The shot was safe for my employees and I took it. All of the employees told me after how happy they were that I did that. The girl that started crying just before I fired thought that he was about to kill them all. Monday morning quarterbacking by watching a video is different from standing here while it was happening.

You may have a point with the larger caliber weapon. I have a 45 that is usually under my desk. I had carried out with me the night before after working late and had left it in my car. The 9mm was one I had in my desk drawer. A shoutgun would probably be the best is this case.

As far as the range comment(just laughable). I am sure you are a regular Annie Oakley at the range. Try this...Go to the range. Place a peice of 1/4" glass between you and your target at a 45 degree angle. There's not really a way to simulate the Adrenaline, so forget about that. Just the glass. I bet you won't even punch the target much less get a fatal shot. A 9mm round is deflected by the glass much more that you think. Not to mention the first few rounds were Glaser Safety slugs, not the ideal round for going through glass.

I appreciate the support from most everyone. I felt that my employees were about to be killed. I did what I could to prevent that from happening. At the end of the day all the employees went home to their families and the bad guys are in jail. I do not have a "make my day" attitude. We have guns to defend ourselves if something like this happens. We used the guns in self defense. I hope it never happens again, but I will defend myself and my employees if it does.
 
I appreciate the support from most everyone. I felt that my employees were about to be killed. I did what I could to prevent that from happening.
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You also reduced the chance that other less brave and resourceful citizens would be killed by those TV-addled publik-skooled punks in the future. Everyone is always so critical of people who fight back... is it better to let the crime sprees continue until a few people get killed?

I'm sure you have your own ideas about improving your firing angles, gunports, etc. and there's absolutely no reason you should post them in public :cool:

Anyway, thanks for stopping those guys.. they might have killed someone the next time if not that time.
 
You may have a point with the larger caliber weapon. I have a 45 that is usually under my desk. I had carried out with me the night before after working late and had left it in my car. The 9mm was one I had in my desk drawer. A shotgun would probably be the best in this case.
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Nah, glass will deflect anything, even a .45-70. Get a rifle, either .223 with light bullets or larger caliber with frangibles so it doesn't go through the wall and kill someone outside. Then set up the office so you have a clear shot (you have a nice marker for the port in the glass already :D ).

Any luck, word will get out and the vermin will suddenly develop the motivation to walk a couple of miles to a sheeple neighborhood.
 
Mike Wilbanks,

Thank you for dropping in and giving us a firsthand account of the incident.

At the end of the day all the employees went home to their families and the bad guys are in jail.
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I think you have your priorities absolutely right!

And welcome to THR!
 
Good shooting Mike Wilbanks, and welcome to the Highroad.

I think that in this case, we should be giving you the ammo normally demanded of new members. :rolleyes:

As far as I'm concerned it's a good shoot. One thing to consider might be to put another camera in as well as getting a shotgun or rifle. Of course, you might have them already. Extra angles can help identify and track criminals.

As for those complaining about the bail amount - remember that 2 of them are in the hospital with gunshot wounds. They'll have a hard time fleeing in this situation. Heck, they'd probably have a hard time coming up with $2k for a bondsman, if they're stupid enough to bail them out with only 10%.

Count me in as one of those that believes that a population willing and able to defend itself will have a greater negative effect on crime than any police force, no matter how draconian, will ever be able to have.
 
Mr. Wilbanks, first, welcome to THR.

I'm glad to hear that you and your employees were able to safely go home that night. I agree with the points you made in your post, and I won't second guess the decision you had to make in a very short amount of time, with no warning.

I also hope that this will have served as a severe wake up call to those individuals involved, and that they will reconsider the decisions they have made that put them in a decidedly ...uncomfortable... situation. Once they get out of jail in 10 years or so....

As you said, the bad guys are in jail (or soon will be), and you and your employees went home safe.

All around, a job well done.
 
I am a bit suprised that this one was even shown on the news. Generally something gun related that turns out well, as this incident did, does not get reported. Now if the gunmen robbed the store, and killed all the innocents, that would be news worthy:barf:
Glad it turned out well for the store personnel and to heck with the punk gunmen...they were lucky, they got less than they deserved.

Well done Mike.:)
 
I specifically liked how they explained that Wilbanks took the time to insure that the shop was empty and that he had a clear line of fire. That seemed like an unusually responsible and unbiased factoid for a news station to point out in this type of story.
 
 
Pretty good job under the circumstances if you ask me. Owner deserves a thumbs up for being prepared and ready to act when necessary.

Just want to make sure, Castle Doctrine applies there right?
 
ahh... just realized the owner is posting in this thread.

Good job Mike. You deserve a pat on the back and I'm glad things turned out fairly well with the media coverage.
 
lawyers

$20,000 bond. Just business as usual. I wonder if the judge gets kickbacks from the bondsmen for setting "reasonable" bail amounts?
__________________

lawyers make more
think on this they were broke when they did crime they just paid bond. now they gotta pay a lawyer. how do they raise the money..... take a guess
 
You may have a point with the larger caliber weapon. I have a 45 that is usually under my desk. I had carried out with me the night before after working late and had left it in my car. The 9mm was one I had in my desk drawer. A shoutgun would probably be the best is this case.
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Hi Mike, So then you agree with me that something needs to changed. You chose choice number 2, a bigger caliber. I'm not criticizing, just saying that the perp could easily have fired his weapon at your employees instead of running out of the store. It wasn’t a one stop shot and you have clearly now identified why. No disrespect meant. I don’t know that I would have done better in the same situation. But you may want to consider a rifle if you plan on shooting through glass again. All around it was a job well done and even though it could have turned out much worse, it didn’t, and that is thanks to you.
Keep fighting the good fight. -Sniper
 
Mike you did good. A deer slug shotgun loaded with buck would provide all the accuracy needed, and all the stopping power to prevent a wounded criminal from returning fire. The 870 Express deer slug gun http://www.remington.com/products/firearms/shotguns/model_870/model_870_express_deer.asp has been used by police for decades, is extremely reliable, and there is something very comforting having a long sight radius with which to aim and a buttstock to steady your aim. There is even versions with a scope attachments. Pick your point, pull the trigger, problem taken care off. :evil:
 
Glad everything turned out Mike. I'm just glad you had SOMETHING to protect your people. Idiots that go around robbing people at gunpoint can't be trusted to not shoot you for the hell of it after they have your money, especially if you've seen their faces.

I am a bit suprised that this one was even shown on the news. Generally something gun related that turns out well, as this incident did, does not get reported.
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Well, this IS Oklahoma...not New York City. (get a rope)
 
But you may want to consider a rifle if you plan on shooting through glass
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This is tough because there are many considerations. If I was just in a war situation, maybe an AR15 or Mini 14 .223 would be good. But those rounds flying out the glass would most likely end up going through the front door and could hit someone in the street. I think a 000buck 12ga is the best to punch through the glass and stop the aggression. This would have most likely killed all three.

There are many things to consider. In this case, I am glad that I didn't kill them. I know people will not understand that, but my intent was to stop them.
 
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