(TN) Store owner shoots suspected robber

Status
Not open for further replies.

Drizzt

Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2002
Messages
2,647
Location
Moscow on the Colorado, TX
Store owner shoots suspected robber
April 28, 2005, 05:08 PM

Reported by Karen Cole

E-mail: [email protected]

A suspected robber is recovering at Vanderbilt Medical Center after being shot by a store owner who is also a former Army Ranger. The incident happened in Scottsboro along Ashland City Highway at a family run country store.

Owner Brad Lewis, his fiancee, and another clerk were working late checking inventory when they heard a crash at the front door of their business around 1am.

The owner's brother says Brad tried to protect his loved ones.

"[Brad came out and saw] the perpetrator who had made his way into the store. He had a hood over his head, hands in pocket and told Brad to give him all his money. At that point Brad feared for his life, and that's when he started firing,†said Bryan Lewis, Owner's brother.

Police say convicted felon Ralph Wade Flemming was hit twice, once in the leg and once in the arm. He ran across the street where he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Flemming is familiar with police having been arrested 69 times in Davidson County. Police say he may not have been working alone.

"We have not found a car, and we don't know if he walked or was dropped off. Maybe someone was waiting on him and heard the shots and fled,†said Metro Detective Robert Swisher.

Police say the store owner had a permit for his handgun and will not be charged. His brother says it is the first incident at the store since opening in February. Just a few hours after the shooting, the store was back open for business.

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3273837&nav=1TcTZDdk

You know, by the time you arrest someone for the 70th time.....
 
Flemming is familiar with police having been arrested 69 times in Davidson County.

Only disappointing thing about this incident is that he only got hit on the arm and leg. :rolleyes:
 
Yeah, for a former Army Ranger, that's really poor marksmanship. Call him up and make him practice! :D

BTW, it's worth going to the link and watching the video. Good reporting.
 
I don't get the "He had a permit..." thing. Does TN require registration or a permit to own a gun. Do not businees owners have the right to keep firearms and even wear them openly at their business?

Or is this just typical blissninny reporting by some liberal that ignorantly assumes one must have permission from the government to own a weapon?
 
this store is located in a rather ruel area very near the davidson/cheatham county line. It is a brand new store that just opened mybe a month ago, I'm not sure of the date. As far as I know any person/owner that can legally purchase a gun can have one for home, personal or comercial property protection with out having to get a CHL. This place also, from what I've been told (i have not been there yet) has a rather large displays of knives and old/older firearms. You can get gas, diesel, a sit-down dinner, a new buck knife, and many other things in one location. Kinda like the old general stores of the western age. The building is also made to look like a log home.
 
I don't get the "He had a permit..." thing. Does TN require registration or a permit to own a gun. Do not businees owners have the right to keep firearms and even wear them openly at their business?

There is no registration here. I assume they mean a permit to carry, which of course he didnt really need in this situation. Actually Im glad they mentioned it. It portrays permit holders as consciencious law abiding people.
I'll add that Im glad they changed the law b/c under the old law you could not carry in a place that sold alcohol (new law prohibits carry in place that serves alcohol and that is under reconsideration).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top