Police: Man Shoots Would-Be Robber (while he was pulling out cash at an ATM)

[The Straight Story]

Police: Man Shoots Would-Be Robber


WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- A man turned the tables on his would-be robber while he was pulling out cash at an ATM, police said.

Winter Garden Police said the victim was at the Wachovia ATM at 801 S. Dillard St. early Friday morning when he was approached by a man with a gun.

The victim, who has a concealed weapons permit, pulled out a gun of his own and opened fire at the robber, identified as Tommie R. Ward, while he was being shot at himself, according to police.

Ward, 18, was shot three times and fled the scene with two other people, police said.

Police said officers caught up with the Ward's vehicle about a mile away where he crashed the car.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/23483564/detail.html

[X_Digger]

1. Wait, that's unpossible!

A good guy was able to pull his own gun and shoot a bad guy who already had his gun out?

Unpossible! I'm told by very strident posters here that this just can't happen!!!

:sarcasm:

[shadowrider]

2. Nope. Those posters would think the story should have been

"A guy withdrawing money at an ATM early in the morning drew down on an innocent pedestrian and fired 10 shots at him. The shooter was unprovoked, he just wanted to blow someone away."

Or something along that order.

[jazzhound]

7. Right. Or............"Guy being robbed at ATM pulls his gun to shoot robber

and sprays the area with bullets missing the robber entirely while killing two innocent bystanders".

[shadowrider]

8. Both are acceptable substitutes n/t

[gorfle]

3. I've bookmarked this thread for future reference.

The next time someone pulls out the "you can't fight back against someone who surprises you" canard, I'm going to link to this thread.

[TPaine7]

6. See also...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x195218

[Javaman]

4. So the moral to this story is...

never bring a gun to a...um...gun fight?

[GreenStormCloud]

5. I doubt that the defender was surprised.

It sounds to me like he was prepared and observant.

1. Action beats reaction, other things being equal. The robber was expecting a compliant victim, was surprised by the fight, and had to adjust to getting shot at. By the time he made that adjustment, he likely had already been shot.

2. Competence beats incompetence. I have stated many times that most crooks are terrible shots.