Two ladies foil robbery with a Ruger LCP. No one got hurt!

[JoeSlomo]

Sneakily trying to steal property with no force whatsoever in an area separate from where the clerk even was is not a robbery if robbery is the felony you were thinking about.

Both stealing and conspiracy are felonies in Missouri, however, there is a monetary requirement of $500 before stealing becomes a class C felony, and if the "bank bag" in question had at least $500.00, then the two men could be charged with felony stealing and conspiracy.

 

[wulfhart]

Self defense is clearly not their intent. Just to be clear I am not trying to argue with you, just see if there is a way for this to be legal on the women's side of things.

Basically I have determined that they were completely legal in detaining them up until the gun was retrieved. That is were the law breaks down and says it is only justifiable to detain with deadly force as a "private person" if the person
"(a) Committed or attempted to commit a class A felony or murder; or
(b) Is attempting to escape by use of a deadly weapon."

Unless the thieves were making escape with a knife or other weapon, she wasn't legal.

Edit:

How does the law define Class A?

 

[uspJ]

these women are lucky, the daughter telling her mother to go to the car and get the gun would have been a signal to more serious criminals to either run for their lives or attack the women and then escape. if these men had not been so compliant the content of that article would have been much darker.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Right, and so there goes the notion that unplugging the phone to show intent to do the ladies harm. Usually criminals intent on doing harm are far from compliant.

 

[Kleanbore]

these women are lucky, the daughter telling her mother to go to the car and get the gun would have been a signal to more serious criminals to either run for their lives or attack the women and then escape. if these men had not been so compliant the content of that article would have been much darker.

Excellent point.

 

[wulfhart]

Basically, for my own benefit, I gather this from this story.

If I don't have my gun reachable: either don't retrieve it or don't let the criminals know that I am retrieving it.

I already knew that detaining an individual would be quite silly.

 

[philip964]

Glad I live in Texas. So if I'm ever being robbed, (especially at night) I don't have to consult an attorney before defending my property or my life.