Passer-by shoots robbery suspect fleeing Circle K

[BenjaminR]

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0213abrk-attemptedrobbery0213-ON.html

Amanda Chan
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 13, 2007 11:58 AM

A man who police believe attempted to rob a Circle K store was chased down and shot in the leg by a passer-by, Phoenix police said.

The would-be robber attempted to steal cartons of cigarettes from behind the store counter at approximately 10:15 a.m. on Monday, police said. The Circle K store is located near Camelback Road and 16th Street..

The store manager confronted the man, and the suspect fled the store, police said.

A person in a vehicle pursued the would-be robber and reportedly shot the suspect in the leg. The suspect was unarmed, police said, but the gunman was under the impression he had a weapon, according to police.

David Burton, 46, was arrested on suspicion of the robbery and taken to St. Joe's Hospital and Medical Center for treatment of his injury.

 

[BenjaminR]

I first heard this story on the news, the other version said that the "passer-by" was a CCW permit holder. He shot the man as he was robbing the place then shot him again in the leg as he was trying to escape. I've been trying to find another version of this story somewhere but with no luck.

Last I heard the shooter is not being charged.

 

[Vairochana]

Shot for stealing Cigarettes?

 

[chris in va]

Whups. Bad idea on the CC holder's part. Hey maybe it's legal in that state, who knows.

 

[Zoogster]

Shot for stealing Cigarettes?

Hey cigarettes are expensive, some places with state mandated taxes to punish the smoking minority because we can outvote them it is around $10 a pack last I checked in some places. So grabbing a couple cartons would quickly become felony shoplifting.

Also when someone steals something, and someone tries to physicaly intervene, even if it is a passerby trying to grab the person and the thief resists it goes from shoplifting to robbery. That is why stealing cigarettes was a felony. The owner noticed and confronted him and he fled, with the cigarettes. Robbery is a felony, not only that but it is classified as a "violent felony", so lethal force is not as questionable as you would think under the law in many places if he was considered in the process of commiting the crime.

This was likely misuse, but the law must allow a level of discretion or a firearm would pose more of a danger to a CCW holder being robbed by a physicaly superior unnarmed man that could come into possession of the firearm, than if the ccw holder was unnarmed. So 'robbery' is a "violent felony" that allows the discretion of deadly force. However civil court will likely eat this man alive. Nobody knows exactly what happened here. The report sounds as if the initial shot was while he was commiting the robbery (which could be justified if he was threatening or using violence and especialy if he believed the man was armed and could hurt the employee), and after chasing him another shot was fired. Perhaps the guy being chased turned around pissed off and tried to attack or take the gun away when he was shot again.

So while I agree with you that someone shot for stealing cigarettes or anything is excessive, or anyone running away for that matter, I won't assume to knwo the details or trust the media to be exact in a case with so many grey areas like this.

 

[Vairochana]

Did you accidently bite your tongue writing that-it being so far in your cheek and all?

 

[vis-à-vis]

Shot for stealing Cigarettes?

Those things will kill ya you know.

 

[mrcpu]

Can even police shoot a fleeing subject that's not displaying an obvious threat to the people around them?

Well, I didn't mean "even police" like they're special, more like it just seems like one of those things that CC was not designed to cover...

 

[razorburn]

Did you accidently bite your tongue writing that-it being so far in your cheek and all?

...After a while here, you start to wonder whether people are really saying things tongue in cheek or if they're actually serious, no matter how far fetched the crackpot theories are.

 

[Steve in PA]

"Under the impression"???

 

[LiquidTension]

From the info provided, sounds like a bad shoot. If the guy had been beating an old lady to death with the carton of cigarettes it'd be another story. The shooter will probably suffer big time in civil court.

 

[tyme]

Has anyone found a better description of the incident? I'm visualizing it like this:

Creep walks into store, maybe waits for clerk to be distracted, snatches some cigarettes, maybe hurls an insult at the clerk on his way out, goes to car. Clerk comes out after the shoplifter, yelling. Concerned motorist witnesses the commotion, assumes robbery rather than shoplifting, and chases "robber." "Robber" stops at some point and gets out of his car. The motorist does the same and probably asks "robber" to surrender and wait for police. "Robber" has a defiant streak. Motorist shoots robber in the leg.

CCW status is irrelevant, since open carry without permit is legal in AZ and open vs concealed carry is irrelevant in this situation.