Disturbing

[redlevel]

I posted a few days ago about murders in Warner Robins, Georgia. Two of the murders
happened in the commission of armed robberies. This is from a newspaper article from a Macon paper:

"Sunday night, Barberitos restaurant worker Parker K. Moore, 23, of Kathleen, was killed and another worker was shot in the head during an armed robbery. On Jan. 13, Chevron convenience store clerk Janak "Jack" Kumar Patel, 25, Warner Robins, was slain also during an armed robbery. Both Moore and Patel apparently had complied with the robber's demands when they were shot, Evans said."

Company policy at our shops is to comply with demands in case of armed robbery. I think it is a good policy,
and it is my intention to do so. My own thoughts have always been to comply until the robber started acting crazy,
or overly aggressive. Of course no one knows how the would react until faced with the situation. I would probably cry and soil
my under wear, but I don't think I would retreat to a back room if ordered, or lie down on the floor.

A few days before Christmas, a 15 year-old walked in a pawn shop in Columbus and murdered
an employee without saying a word. Now, these murders, seemingly done just for the sake of
killing. At the very least, my threat radar is turned up a few notches.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

"All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to nothing." Edmund Burke
"An appeaser is some who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last."
Winston Churchill
"Nemo's like a mad dog, Professor. You can't reason or argue with him, you can only muzzle him or shoot him!" Ned land to Professor Arronax in the Disney Version of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".
"The mind is the weapon, everything else is just a tool."
I'd be looking for another job, of course.

 

[redlevel]

"All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to nothing." Edmund Burke
"An appeaser is some who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last."
Winston Churchill
"Nemo's like a mad dog, Professor. You can't reason or argue with him, you can only muzzle him or shoot him!" Ned land to Professor Arronax in the Disney Version of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea".
"The mind is the weapon, everything else is just a tool."
I'd be looking for another job, of course.

Don't know that I quite understand the tone of your post.
Common sense isn't appeasement. Actually, it is a good thing that the owners
don't expect us to risk our lives over a few dollars of their money.
On the other hand, we are allowed to arm ourselves, implying that they trust us to use good judgement.
I am always armed with a handgun, and usually only a step or two from a carbine or a shotgun.

Why would you look for another job? I like my job and the people I work for and with.
My manager is very happy for me to stand in the parking lot with my shotgun while she is securing
the door, setting the alarm, etc. she gives me a very nice employee discount on guns, ammo,
tools, silver, etc. I love my part-time job.

Any job or other human activity has its risks. I figure that a little
increased vigilance will just be a good idea. Costs nothing.

 

[rwsmith]

Comply, it ain't worth it ....

...but how do you know when it changes from a threat designed to cow people so that the robbery can be successful to the point where you realize that they intend to kill you and others?

I can't help but think of the people in the Brown's Chicken where seven people were executed in the back of the store.

Of course there is the store owner who tried to outdraw someone who had a gun on him when he needed to rack his pistol before it would fire. And it seemed the perp was even leaving. STOOOOO-PID!

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have always felt this way!

At this point, nobody is holding a gun to your head. You can and will work wherever you please. You have made yourself a harder person to victimize!
All any of us could ask is stay aware!

Ivan

 

[amazingflapjack]

Read the person; their body language...

 

[ColbyBruce]

Do you recall the movie "To Kill a Mockingbird"? In the opening scene, the character Atticus Finch stands in the middle of a street, in broad daylight in front of witnesses, and shoots a rabid dog.

Why?

Simply, good people often perform unpleasant tasks because they have no choice. One can't secure themselves behind a locked door and hope the problem passes them by. One intended victim may survive unscathed but the problem moves on, to find another victim.

The armed criminal made a life and death decision by arming himself. Remember that.

 

[Iggy]

Dead victims can't identify their attackers later.

Keep that in mind while you are being robbed.

 

[Breakaway500]

I don't consider the law or rules when defending myself from a lethal threat. If I have to,I'll beg forgiveness afterwards...but I'l take my chances on 12 members of a jury vs. 6 pall bearers.

 

[Gamecock]

A few bizarre murders around here in the last month, too.

Two store clerks in separate incidents, and a police officer.

Bizarre in that it is unfathomable what the perps thought they were going to accomplish by killing the people. Two perps were arrested at the scene, the third within 5 hours, after an car chase.

I guess it's impossible for the normal to understand the abnormal.

 

[500SNW]

I don't consider the law or rules when defending myself from a lethal threat. If I have to,I'll beg forgiveness afterwards...but I'l take my chances on 12 members of a jury vs. 6 pall bearers.

Like I always say - the very first thing you do after a self-defense shooting is - look around to see if there are/were any witnesses

 

[6518John]

A few bizarre murders around here in the last month, too. Two store clerks in separate incidents, and a police officer. Bizarre in that it is unfathomable what the perps thought they were going to accomplish by killing the people. Two perps were arrested at the scene, the third within 5 hours, after an car chase.

I guess it's impossible for the normal to understand the abnormal.

Drugs. Plain and simple. Crack-cocaine and meth. What little impulse control and brains they had have been wholly overridden. It is in my local paper today the Coast Guard has seized 47,000 pounds of cocaine in the Pacific alone since November. They have seized 227 TONS in the past fiscal year. And Vice Admiral Fred Midgette says “this represents only a fraction of the illegal sea shipments” into the US.

 

[Absalom]

...but how do you know when it changes from a threat designed to cow people so that the robbery can be successful to the point where you realize that they intend to kill you and others?
....

And the winner is ... JUDGMENT once sgain!

Way too many people delude themselves into thinking the self-defense situation they will find themselves in will be clear cut and they will be heroic defenders of their lives.

Think again. Much more likely, it will be messy, it will be fast, confusing, require split-second decisions, and the chance that you screw up with possibly life-changing consequences for you and others is always very real. Don’t fight back when you should, try to fight back at the wrong moment, either can get you and others killed.

So be armed when you can, be ready to fight, but your good judgment as to what to do at what moment, in the most stressful situation imaginable, will decide how it turns out.

Keep any platitudes limited to internet forums; every situation requires that you evaluate and decide on the spot. If you want to be a hero or live out fantasies of slaying evil, play computer games.

 

[rwsmith]

Drugs have made a real difference......

Drugs. Plain and simple. Crack-cocaine and meth. What little impulse control and brains they had have been wholly overridden. It is in my local paper today the Coast Guard has seized 47,000 pounds of cocaine in the Pacific alone since November. They have seized 227 TONS in the past fiscal year. And Vice Admiral Fred Midgette says “this represents only a fraction of the illegal sea shipments” into the US.

Crooks had some judgement about how deep they wanted to get into a crime. Drugs throw that out the window.

 

[dusty3030]

Google "AR15.com street robberies and you"
This is thread that has been around awhile but has some insight of what is going through your head as law abiding average joe and what is going on in the head of someone with the moxie to pull a gun on someone. It is enlightening.

 

[walkin jack]

Working in convenience store or fast food restaurant is just about as dangerous a job as there is. And it pays the least. It does seem like the robbers shoot their victims a lot more of the time than they did back in the days when I was asst. manager of a 7-11. and that was back in 1966/7 Only held up once and the robber pointed his gun at me but he was more shook up than I was and I didn't give him any cause to pull the trigger.

I called the police when he left and then I called my supervisor. He came out while the police were still there and made sure I was okay. He took the rest of my shift (but didn't dock my pay) and sent me home for the rest of the day.

I worked there for another 6 months and I was as jumpy as a frog on the freeway at rush hour every day. I finally couldn't take it any more and turned in my keys...

 

[Gamecock]

Drugs. Plain and simple.

Maybe in one case.

The LEO killed was responding to a domestic violence call.

I learned today from a local cop that one store clerk, though it is being reported a random killing, had dated the perp and had broken up with him. In effect, another domestic violence case.

Still no reason to kill people.

 

[sigp220.45]

One of my nieces authors a Facebook page called “Today in Horror History”. Some of it is movie stuff, but a lot of it is the result of her painstaking culling through old newspaper accounts of horrific crimes.

I’m often proven right in my belief that there really were never any good old days. People have been doing inexplicably horrible things to each other since we climbed down from the trees.

 

[BigBill]

Makes us think what would we do if we were out and a robbery took place and we were threatened? These drugs can drive the users to do crazy things.

 

[ACP230]

I lived in N. Florida for a while in the late 1970s.

There was an armed robber working the city. His deal was
to rob gas stations and shoot the attendant every time.
He knocked over a station right behind the trailer park where
we lived one night. We used to buy gas there but my wife didn't go
there that night. They caught the guy a few weeks later.

So, even back then, people got shot and killed during armed
robberies.