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(MO) Carrier scares off assailants with gun
Carrier scares off assailants with gun
By JOHN SHULTZ The Kansas City Star
A veteran contract carrier for The Kansas City Star parked close to the store at 5th Street and Troost Avenue like always early today. It meant a quick trip back to the safety of his van.
But one of his four attackers, the biggest guy, was too quick for the carrier to drive away.
The assailant and perhaps others in his group rained punches on the 66-year-old carrier through his driver-side window. He used a gun to fend them off, firing three times.
They never asked for money.
“I thought these guys just weren’t going to let up,” said the carrier, who asked not to be identified because his attackers remained free. “He intended to knock me out … maybe leave me for dead.
“At that time, he’d get what ever he wanted.”
According to police, the carrier was assaulted just before 3 a.m.. The carrier said he saw the men emerge from Garrison Park and run toward him.
“I thought at first they were probably just going to ask (for) money,” the carrier said. “I’ve been asked before by people, ‘I’m not here for trouble; I just need some help.’ ” He sometimes gives lose change.
But these men, probably in their teens or 20s, were running at him.
“He just said ‘Hey,’ then pow,” the carrier said.
While the carrier was being hit, the van, which he had already put in drive, moved a short distance and smacked into the concrete and brick of the store building
The carrier pulled a .380-caliber handgun from a holster he keeps near his seat. The attackers fled, running east, as the carrier fired a shot out his window. He got out of the van, stumbling, the carrier said, and fired two more shots above his assailants’ heads.
Investigators were unsure if the gunfire hit any of the attackers.
The victim, police said, appeared to be within his rights defending himself.
The carrier said he had bruises and swelling on the left side of his face, and bleeding in his mouth and nose. He refused an ambulance ride but went to an emergency room later in the morning. He was treated and released.
“We’re glad primarily that (he) kept his wits and head about him and escaped that without further injury,” said Chris Christian, vice president of circulation for The Star.
It was only the second time since he started working for The Star in 1988 that he was assaulted, the carrier said. That time, though, involved a gun and a clear demand for cash.
The carrier said he intends to continue to work his route, though he might not return this week. His wife, though, was having some second thoughts today.
“She said ‘Do you think you should still continue that?’ ”
The Star has no prohibitions on contract carriers carrying weapons on their routes, so long as they abide by state laws, Christian said. They are not, however, permitted to bring guns into Star facilities.
Police said the carrier was in line with Missouri gun laws.
Star carriers have been attacked a number of times in recent years, most notably when carrier Robert R. Hack was shot to death in his delivery van in August 2003 near 66th Street and Woodland Avenue. His slaying remains unsolved.
That fall, a carrier exchanged gunfire with a robber at 30th and Van Brunt. And last November, a robber struck a carrier in the face and stole his van.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12284763.htm
Carrier scares off assailants with gun
By JOHN SHULTZ The Kansas City Star
A veteran contract carrier for The Kansas City Star parked close to the store at 5th Street and Troost Avenue like always early today. It meant a quick trip back to the safety of his van.
But one of his four attackers, the biggest guy, was too quick for the carrier to drive away.
The assailant and perhaps others in his group rained punches on the 66-year-old carrier through his driver-side window. He used a gun to fend them off, firing three times.
They never asked for money.
“I thought these guys just weren’t going to let up,” said the carrier, who asked not to be identified because his attackers remained free. “He intended to knock me out … maybe leave me for dead.
“At that time, he’d get what ever he wanted.”
According to police, the carrier was assaulted just before 3 a.m.. The carrier said he saw the men emerge from Garrison Park and run toward him.
“I thought at first they were probably just going to ask (for) money,” the carrier said. “I’ve been asked before by people, ‘I’m not here for trouble; I just need some help.’ ” He sometimes gives lose change.
But these men, probably in their teens or 20s, were running at him.
“He just said ‘Hey,’ then pow,” the carrier said.
While the carrier was being hit, the van, which he had already put in drive, moved a short distance and smacked into the concrete and brick of the store building
The carrier pulled a .380-caliber handgun from a holster he keeps near his seat. The attackers fled, running east, as the carrier fired a shot out his window. He got out of the van, stumbling, the carrier said, and fired two more shots above his assailants’ heads.
Investigators were unsure if the gunfire hit any of the attackers.
The victim, police said, appeared to be within his rights defending himself.
The carrier said he had bruises and swelling on the left side of his face, and bleeding in his mouth and nose. He refused an ambulance ride but went to an emergency room later in the morning. He was treated and released.
“We’re glad primarily that (he) kept his wits and head about him and escaped that without further injury,” said Chris Christian, vice president of circulation for The Star.
It was only the second time since he started working for The Star in 1988 that he was assaulted, the carrier said. That time, though, involved a gun and a clear demand for cash.
The carrier said he intends to continue to work his route, though he might not return this week. His wife, though, was having some second thoughts today.
“She said ‘Do you think you should still continue that?’ ”
The Star has no prohibitions on contract carriers carrying weapons on their routes, so long as they abide by state laws, Christian said. They are not, however, permitted to bring guns into Star facilities.
Police said the carrier was in line with Missouri gun laws.
Star carriers have been attacked a number of times in recent years, most notably when carrier Robert R. Hack was shot to death in his delivery van in August 2003 near 66th Street and Woodland Avenue. His slaying remains unsolved.
That fall, a carrier exchanged gunfire with a robber at 30th and Van Brunt. And last November, a robber struck a carrier in the face and stole his van.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/12284763.htm
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:banghead: 
