From the St. Petersburg Times (link):
Robber hit by victim's shots in dark
STEVE THOMPSON
Dec 25, 2004
In the predawn mist, John Quicke couldn't see the man who had just robbed him of a can full of quarters. So he fired his revolver into the dark at the sound of the jangling coins.
"Ouch!" the man yelled. But he kept running.
It was the end of 30 minutes of terror.
Quicke, 51, had been drinking a cup of coffee in his bedroom at 5 a.m. Thursday when the robber came in through the back door of his home on Galveston Street.
"I had the door open in the back because it was so muggy," Quicke said.
The man was dressed all in black, including a mask. He waved a chrome-plated handgun and demanded money and jewelry. He told Quicke to lie face down on the bed.
"He tore my bedroom apart digging through everything," Quicke said.
The robber found a safe in the closet and demanded Quicke get on his knees to open it.
"He was yelling at me, pointing the gun against my temple. He says, 'You've got a count of 10 to open that safe.' "
The safe had nothing but old papers in it. Quicke hadn't been in it for months.
"I was so scared, I couldn't open that thing to save my life. I couldn't even think of the combination."
As he worked the knobs, Quicke didn't pray. Nor did he see his life flash before him, he said.
"I was thinking about some way I could get to my gun, and hoping he didn't find it."
The man already had found Quicke's double-barrelled shotgun, but his .20-caliber nine-shot revolver was in another room.
At the count of nine, Quicke still had not opened the safe. He fell away from the robber, but the man didn't fire.
Soon afterward, the robber ran out of the room and down a wooden staircase with Quicke's shotgun, his cash, his medicine and his 3- pound Planter's peanut can full of change.
When the robber got to the bottom of the staircase, Quicke heard him stumble and spill quarters all over the floor. As he heard the man picking some of them up, Quicke got his gun from the other room.
Quicke ran out to his second story deck, and that's when he heard the change jangling in the dark. He fired twice, and knew his aim had been good when he heard the man scream out. The man dropped Quicke's shotgun in the front yard, but kept going. Quicke called 911.
When sheriff's deputies showed up, it didn't take them long to find a suspect: They simply followed a trail of coins to a home down the road.
There, a woman told them their suspect was at Spring Hill Regional Hospital. The man had been shot in the buttocks.
Sheriff's officials would not release information about the man, whom they had not arrested as of Friday afternoon.
"The suspect was treated (at the hospital) and released," sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. "Of course, given the continuing investigation, we are withholding his name."
Quicke said he knows who the robber was, though not his name.
"He lives down the road, maybe half a mile down from me. Now they've turned him loose."
Quicke said deputies told him that the man, with a wound in his buttocks and in his wrist, claimed he was shot during a drive-by shooting that morning, but that he didn't wish to press charges against whoever shot him.
Said Quicke: "He's still got the bullets in him, from what I was told."
Quicke said detectives told him that they hadn't arrested the man yet because they were still gathering evidence. Quicke said he fears that before they do, the robber will show up at his house again.
"He's going to be back, and the damn cops took my guns."
Robber hit by victim's shots in dark
STEVE THOMPSON
Dec 25, 2004
In the predawn mist, John Quicke couldn't see the man who had just robbed him of a can full of quarters. So he fired his revolver into the dark at the sound of the jangling coins.
"Ouch!" the man yelled. But he kept running.
It was the end of 30 minutes of terror.
Quicke, 51, had been drinking a cup of coffee in his bedroom at 5 a.m. Thursday when the robber came in through the back door of his home on Galveston Street.
"I had the door open in the back because it was so muggy," Quicke said.
The man was dressed all in black, including a mask. He waved a chrome-plated handgun and demanded money and jewelry. He told Quicke to lie face down on the bed.
"He tore my bedroom apart digging through everything," Quicke said.
The robber found a safe in the closet and demanded Quicke get on his knees to open it.
"He was yelling at me, pointing the gun against my temple. He says, 'You've got a count of 10 to open that safe.' "
The safe had nothing but old papers in it. Quicke hadn't been in it for months.
"I was so scared, I couldn't open that thing to save my life. I couldn't even think of the combination."
As he worked the knobs, Quicke didn't pray. Nor did he see his life flash before him, he said.
"I was thinking about some way I could get to my gun, and hoping he didn't find it."
The man already had found Quicke's double-barrelled shotgun, but his .20-caliber nine-shot revolver was in another room.
At the count of nine, Quicke still had not opened the safe. He fell away from the robber, but the man didn't fire.
Soon afterward, the robber ran out of the room and down a wooden staircase with Quicke's shotgun, his cash, his medicine and his 3- pound Planter's peanut can full of change.
When the robber got to the bottom of the staircase, Quicke heard him stumble and spill quarters all over the floor. As he heard the man picking some of them up, Quicke got his gun from the other room.
Quicke ran out to his second story deck, and that's when he heard the change jangling in the dark. He fired twice, and knew his aim had been good when he heard the man scream out. The man dropped Quicke's shotgun in the front yard, but kept going. Quicke called 911.
When sheriff's deputies showed up, it didn't take them long to find a suspect: They simply followed a trail of coins to a home down the road.
There, a woman told them their suspect was at Spring Hill Regional Hospital. The man had been shot in the buttocks.
Sheriff's officials would not release information about the man, whom they had not arrested as of Friday afternoon.
"The suspect was treated (at the hospital) and released," sheriff's spokesman Doug Tobin said. "Of course, given the continuing investigation, we are withholding his name."
Quicke said he knows who the robber was, though not his name.
"He lives down the road, maybe half a mile down from me. Now they've turned him loose."
Quicke said deputies told him that the man, with a wound in his buttocks and in his wrist, claimed he was shot during a drive-by shooting that morning, but that he didn't wish to press charges against whoever shot him.
Said Quicke: "He's still got the bullets in him, from what I was told."
Quicke said detectives told him that they hadn't arrested the man yet because they were still gathering evidence. Quicke said he fears that before they do, the robber will show up at his house again.
"He's going to be back, and the damn cops took my guns."
