I agree that the OP's friends decision sounds odd, however, I think we may be being a tad harsh.
Most are assuming his reason for quitting carry is due to the capacity of the gun (5 shot snub) v. 3 violent thugs. Even if this is the reason, it
can make
somel sense in some scenarios. If it was a blanket, "I won't carry anymore because I don't have enough ammo" than sure, it is ridiculous. However, maybe he doesn't have the money for another gun right now and he's quitting carry until he can afford something with more capacity. That makes a little sense, though it would make more sense to continue to carry until he can afford a gun with more capacity and simply use discretion about when to respond and when not to.
However, it sounds like there was a lot more to it than that:
It scared him. He decided that, had he been there, he would have engaged with his 5-shot J-frame and would have been outnumbered, outgunned and likely shot.
It sounds like mindset and discretion may be the issue here, and the friend recognized that he had to work on it before he was ready to carry in public. If he envisioned himself automatically engaging any threat, and realized that going after 3 violent thugs alone would have likely got him killed (even with a higher capacity gun, and especially with a 5 shot snub), than maybe he shouldn’t carry until he gets in the right mindset. In a bank robbery, they may not (and it sounds like they did not) just start randomly shooting people (from the OP, it sounds like the woman was killed for her car before the bank robbery). If you don’t need to shoot to save your life or someone else’s, sometimes the correct course of action is to watch and be a good witness. Engaging in those circumstances will escalate the situation and might get someone (you and/or others) killed.
It isn't the decision I'd make, however, I wouldn't just rush in either. I'd take a look and assess the situation before deciding if it was (or was not) appropriate for me to engage. I'd then look at equipment and decide what to do about that. I actually have decided recently that I want more capacity and capability than my typical carry guns in the past (5 shot snub, 6 shot micro-9 and mini-380) and I want something bigger and more controllable in an emergency. When I'm out of state where I can carry, I also carry a knife because not all situations call for the same tool, and I am replacing my long ago expired pepper spray with some pepper foam or gel.