Shopping in a convience Store, armed robbery happens, what do you do...

[Skittlesman7062]

Here's the scenario:

You enter a convience store/quick stop, and you are in the back shopping for some things. A perp enters, armed, and looks visibly agitated, and demands money from the cashier at gunpoint, while making threating remarks. He hasnt noticed you in the back of the store yet. What do you do?

 

[Hook686]

Personally, I would quickly obtain the best defensive position I could (scamper out the back door, or Emergency Exit if either exists is my 1st choice). If in a defensive position my pistol offers some defense if assaulted with lethal force. Otherwise I observe the best I can, call 911 and report the situation, without drawing attention to myself.

I suggest you use the search function, as I hope you do not think you are the first person to ask this question.

 

[Skittlesman7062]

Not trying to sound ignorant, but what might the legal reprocussions be if you believed that the clerks was in imminent danger of being shot and you shot the perp?

 

[Treo]

I would quickly remind myself that the crackhead robbing the store is only going to get about 30.00$ & that the store is insured. then MYOB

 

[Code3GT]

Personally, I would stay out of sight, call 911, be ready to react to anything that threatens me with serious bodily injury or death. Like Treo said, he's not going to get much and the store's insured. I'm not a super hero and am no longer a commisioned police officer. I'd protect myself, but its not my job to protect anyone else. Now if someone gets injured/shot/etc...then i'll do something medically if safe to do so

 

[loneviking]

I'm with Treo and others on this one. Fade to cover, watch and stay out of it! Unless the perp starts capping off rounds, cutting on someone or ordering all of the customers to the ground at gunpoint---I ain't getting in on the action.

 

[Skittlesman7062]

Thanks for the responses. I was just curious as to what would be the best course of action in such a situation. Never hurts to be educated.

 

[rondog]

When it happened to me 30 years ago, I just went to the magazine rack while he did his thing. He knew I was there, but I didn't know what he was doing. I started to leave, and he ordered me back inside. Looooong time ago.

 

[Armueller2001]

Legally, wouldn't you be able to use lethal force because the clerk is being threatened at that point in time? Kind of like stopping a rape in progress...

 

[theken206]

hmmmm not sure honestly, might take action might not, just a thought for those of you thinking about playing hero


not to long ago a good friend of mine "M" got caught in the middle of a CS robbery.

lets just say M's been around the block and then some. the type of guy you want next to you when it goes down hard IME.

hes in the army right now and this happened down in texas {hes stationed at hood}.

he goes to the local 7-11 late at night having been drinking a bit and wanting a pack of newports and a bag of skittles{or something like that, mambas, who knows} when a car pulls up and two guys run in brandishing pistols.

he said one had a small glock 9mm and the other what seemed to be a
.38 revolver of some sort. Hes at the counter having just grabbed his pack of 'ports and is grabbing a bag of candy when they come in.

One perp is right by the counter real close to him, the other a few feet away to the side of the cashiers counter.

Its taking a long time for an armed robbery and M asks if he can pay for his stuff and dip out.
Who actually thinks of such a thing??!!

That kinda stunned them one said " uhhhh yeah uhhh sure Ni88a uhhhh go ahead yo, just hurry up"
[M said he was like wow, these kats must be full on retarded or something]

He then grabs and hems the one of them closest to him up from behind with a nice sharp knife to his throat {something hes well, pretty good at lol} to the point that when the fuzz came they took it for evidence as it hand the guys bandanna on it from being cut threw and a good amount of his blood.

The other guy now has his gun trained on Ms head, "drop the gun"
"drop the knife" "NAW, DROP THE GUN OR IMMA KILL HIM"

"NAW, DROP THE KNIFE OR IMMA KILL YOU"

"Alright homey, imma let you go, but you better not shoot me foo"

Soon as he let him go the guy shoves his gun in his face, said at the time it pissed him off more than it scarred him.

"mother f'er I coulda just killed you, do you know how lucky you are??, you better put that thing down man"

at this point M has noticed some of there gang ink and knows who there with/what gang they are aflliated to.

its a gang he lets just say has pull with/ties to and thats what he told them, and then told them to "just leave and it wont be a problem, just leave yo, just leave".

they did, and then the cops came and they did there thing, took his blade as evidence and sent him on home to base.

just a thought at just how fast things happen and can go wrong for even those well versed in violence and mayhem.

 

[Treo]

The problem came when he decided to apprehend them as oppossed to just killing them. Frequent problem when you try to make a soldier into a cop

 

[theken206]

darn good point

 

[Travis Lee]

While it seems to be the "sophisticated" thing to "hide and be a good witness".... "wait til he starts shooting people to act"..... this is a case which happened two blocks from my house to a woman I've met many times in the last couple years.

http://www.krqe.com/global/story.asp?s=8649399

The robber in this story shot the woman in the chest and took a tip jar with maybe $6 in it.

Poor payoff for a capital crime.

You think that you can just lurk in the background, "wait and see" what happens? Hmmm...

When a BG threatens deadly force you can assume HE REALLY MEANS it, and once he kills one person, he may want to clean up any witnesses, too.

DO you want to be AHEAD of that bad guy, or trying to play catch up?

ACTION BEATS RE-ACTION

Are you seriously worried about the legal justifiability of shooting this guy?

 

[Huckle2]

I will try to get a physical description of the perp, and/but only, if I can do so without being noticed.
I will listen carefully, dialect, speech impairments, etc.
I will dial 911 on my cell phone and say nothing until perp leaves.

I will not bring attention to myself.
I will not step in and try to save the day as this will most likely turn out bad. I can not be certain the perp is alone and does not have someone outside the door.

When it is over, I will go home and change my underwear!

Did I mention I very, very, seldom go inside a C-Store? Gas up, pay at pump, buy groceries at grocery store.

 

[FCFC]

...its a gang he lets just say has pull with/ties to and thats what he told them, and then told them to "just leave and it wont be a problem, just leave yo, just leave".

they did, and then the cops came and they did there thing, took his blade as evidence and sent him on home to base.

just a thought at just how fast things happen and can go wrong for even those well versed in violence and mayhem.

What a fantastical tale...

 

[tepin]

Lock yourself in the bathroom and eat the groceries?

1. Pull gun
2. Stay hidden
3. Shoot immediately if confronted

 

[XDKingslayer]

Nice to know I can't count on any of you if I ever become a store clerk...

 

[csmkersh]

XDKingslayer, we're not cops. We're caught in a bad situation. As for me, I'd work at being the best damned witness I could including using my phone camera if possible. Would I shoot the do-bad? Maybe, but I'd try to make it when one of the following occurs:

1. When and if it became obvious the clerk's life was in danger.
2. If the do-bad ordered everyone to the back of the store.

With No. 2, I'd figure his intent was to leave no witnesses and everyone's life was in jeopardy.


​

 

[hso]

You have no obligation to protect anyone.
You have to decide if the BG is a serious threat or using a weapon for intimidation.
You have to decide if you are able to deal with the consequences of being wrong in your decision about whether the BG is just using the weapon for intimidation.
You have to decide if you are able to deal with the consequences of killing the BG.

Since the vast majority of CS robberies do not end with the clerk or customers being shot you have to decide if this will be the "normal" robbery or the rare exception.

A lot to decide in just a few moments especially since most of us would stand there in disbelief in real life.

 

[Treo]

XD if you become a store clerk, I expect you to be pakin'

Now to business, I bet I have made the following statement 200 times since joining THR ( No it's not " Am I free to go?)

I Am Not A Sheepdog

I carry a handgun so that I can protect my family & myself. I did not get a Jr. Police badge W/ my permit & it is not my duty to intervene in a crime that, until I intervene, doesn't involve me.

I would venture to guess that most robberies are over in less than 1 minute. In that minute I have to overcome inertia ( yes virginia that really is a robber) decide to intervene, decide if I have a clear enough shot , W/out endangering the clerk( if I'm not on the front aisle or standing right behind the BG which means the clerk is probably in my line of fire I probably don't ) Draw against a gun in the hand W/ out getting myself shot. Take that one split second to ask myself again if this is really worth all the Hell I'm about to unload on my life and shoot. is it worth it? am I confident that I can hit the guy from where I'm at? ( if I get that far I have no intention of endangering myself by trying to apprehend the crack head) do I know that there aren't some supernumerary bad guys outside?

You wanta go through that hassel? be my guest. If I'm not directly in imediate danger I'm going to observe and report

 

[ilbob]

I would quickly remind myself that the crackhead robbing the store is only going to get about 30.00$ & that the store is insured. then MYOB

I figure it is up to me to protect me in such a situation, and I plan to do what I can to protect me. Chances are pretty good that he gets his $30 and he moves on. If it appears to be getting a lot hairier, then I might have to consider something more direct. But it ain't worth dying for someone else's $30.

 

[archigos]

I'd say it really depends more specifically on the situation.

Can you hide safely?
Can you intervene safely?
Do your state laws allow you to intervene?
Does the crackhead seem agitated enough that he's going to put a bullet in anyone? As other people have stated - I'm not putting my life on the line over $30. But I might be more inclined to over the lives of other people (and especially myself).

 

[shadowalker]

The clerk's and everyone else's life is in danger the second the bad guy comes through the door with a weapon and malicious intent. In my state this situation meets the requirements for use of lethal force. Our laws are pretty good for use of force and we have civil immunity for justified use of force. The tricky thing is whether it is the right thing to do or not.

I may choose to be a good witness or I may choose to use lethal force against him, he is a direct threat to me, and I would far rather engage him on my time than on his. I guess my response is I am not opposed or afraid of using lethal force if I judge it to be necessary. I trust my judgment and I answered the moral questions a long time ago.

These situations happen very fast are very unpredictable, and it can go from a calm robbery to a dead clerk and / or witnesses extremely fast. The vast majority are in and outs but when it goes bad it gets very bad very fast. I've seen video of robberies where the robbery was complete and the BG shoots a customer or clerk on the way out the store for absolutely no reason and with no warning.

I don't know what his intentions (other than threatening the life of others) are, and I'm not particularly included to depend on his mercy.

If I had time I would call 911, put my phone down and go from there. If I have time and ability I will evacuate my family, if I'm by myself I may or may not evacuate but would seek cover if I can do so safely.

I am someone that is pretty likely to come to the aid of another person, others are not. I would not attempt to apprehend him (not my job yet) or get involved over the money.

 

[M1911]

I'd be looking for a backdoor. If not, I'd take cover and hope they don't come after me.

Not trying to sound ignorant, but what might the legal reprocussions be if you believed that the clerks was in imminent danger of being shot and you shot the perp?

In general, you can use deadly force to defend a third party if the third party is legally able to use deadly force to protect themselves.

That said, realize that even in what you think to be a justifiable shooting you may be opening yourself up to a legal nightmare. Furthermore, third party situations are often very murky and what you think is going on may be different from the reality.

I'm not a cop. I carry to protect me and mine. I won't say that I would never intervene in a third-party incident, but I would not be predisposed to jump into one.

 

[pbearperry]

I would do my best to get out the back door or hide.If the bad guy started shooting and I could safely return fire I would.In my opinion any clerk that refuses to carry a firearm has made that choice and there is no point in dying for that person.