defensive gun use

 

WTOC 11 reports that an attempted armed robbery in Savannah, Georgia, was stopped by the employee. The employee, Jerry Lawrence, says he always carries a gun when he goes anywhere for his own safety. Usually, during working hours, he’d keep the gun in a bag at the back of the store, but since he’d just opened the doors for the day, he hadn’t disarmed yet.

That ended up being very fortunate when, at around 10:20, two individuals walked in. Lawrence was on the phone with the store’s owner at the time. When he turned his back for a moment to walk behind the counter, the would-be robbers revealed their true intentions.

“When I turned my back, all I hear is someone say ‘go ahead and give it up. Turn back around.’ They already have their masks on, gloves on,” Lawrence recalled.

Even more alarmingly for Lawrence, he could see that one of the men had a gun. As you can see in the surveillance video, Lawrence reacted quickly, pulled his own gun and told the men to leave. They backed out of the store.

“When they got to the edge of the street, they kind of acted like they were about to turn around,” said Lawrence. “So, I just fired two warning shots.”

“It was a very traumatizing experience cause, you know, they walked in as customers but turning my back for a few seconds turned into a movie scene really fast.”

For our part, we hope Lawrence will take the experience as a reminder that a gun readily accessible on your person is better than one stowed in a backpack in the corner.

16 COMMENTS

  1. We need a more polite armed robber. Ones that do not kill, rape, or kidnap you after you “give it up”. If all I had to loose was money, or a car, TV ect. I would not shoot someone. One procession I would refuse to relinquish would be my firearm however. Can’t have somebody going around using My gun for dirty deeds.

  2. I imagine a scumbag prosecutor could claim that you did not actually fear for your life if you simply fired warning shots — which could negate your legally justified use of deadly force.

    It is entirely possible that I pull the trigger and miss.

    Disclaimer: the above is my opinion and is NOT legal advice. Consult an attorney for your legal strategies.

  3. Was a very risky move drawing your gun, especially out of a bag, once the robbers had the drop on you. That tells me one of two things; 1- not a real gun or 2- real gun not intended to use it. And if you managed to get your gun out you should not have given him the chance to complete a robbery and taking someones life in the next go around.

    • More likely a real gun loaded with only 4 rounds of mismatched ammo (9mm with 2 rounds of 9mm, a .380, and a .40 crammed in there), and he didn’t want to waste it. That’s the way of the ghetto.

    • The (D)-leaning owner probably didn’t know his employee carries a gun to work. Now he does, and he’s going to fire that guy.

  4. Don’t turn your back on people in the store. Especially if they look sketchy.
    Go ahead and call that prejudice if you like.

  5. Last I checked my mags don’t come with “warning shot” slots in them. I gotta sweet tooth for single stack 10mm, every soggy wet kiss counts.

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