Our friends from CSGV with an item from RawStory:
And the story from a slightly better reliable source:
Police in Tucson, Arizona, say a man who had stolen two cases of beer from a convenience store was followed out by witnesses and shot to death after he charged at one of them with a log. Spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Bay said police are investigating and that the Pima County Attorney’s Office will determine whether the shooter, a man who has not been identified, faces charges.
The incident unfolded on Sunday afternoon, when police say 46-year-old Gerald Ramon was seen stealing beer from a convenience store. Several witnesses followed him out to a nearby parking lot. Police said that’s when Ramon picked up a large log, held it over his shoulder and moved toward the man who shot him.
The man hasn’t been charged and may have been acting in self-defense, police said. He remained at the scene and cooperated with police
Source: Police: Witness Follows, Shoots Man Who Stole Beer – ABC News
So it was not quite the posse of rednecks chasing down and hanging Jean Valjean after he stole a loaf a bread to feed the hungry kids in Peru. Although I would let the sucker go if I were a bystander (Done it before) one has to wonder if the shooter might have been the store owner (instead of a manager or clerk) who saw sweat and time invested in his store being stolen.
In any case, Gerald Ramon appears to have escalated the situation by picking up a weapon and threaten the shooter. Dumb move, specially if you live in Arizona or any of the Free States of the Union. He played the proverbial Stupid Game, upped the ante and won the Stupid Prize.
And as a reminder:
Your number one philosophy for personal security should be a life long commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.
Avoidance: The act of avoiding or keeping away from (Three Stupid Rule.) If you can safely retreat from the encounter, by all means do so. For instance, if you are out for a walk and feel threatened or intimidated by an occupant of a car, you should retreat in the opposite direction that the car is traveling.
Deterrence: The act of discouraging someone from taking hostile action against you by being aware of them and their possible intent.
De-escalation: The act of decreasing in intensity. To not let your ego or emotions get the best of you, to refrain from escalating the problem into more than it already is. As a CCW you may need to back down from non-life threatening, argumentative encounters in order to not allow things to spiral out of control.
When these things do not work, then and only then may you need to show or use the gun. Just because we are carrying does not mean that we need to use the gun. You want to do whatever is reasonably possible to avoid using the gun. But when your well researched, well thought out “line in the sand” has been crossed you need to act without hesitation.
Roger Phillips, Suarez International Specialist Instructor.
I should post this the first of every month.
Well, I’ve long maintained that by advocating gun control, they were on side of the criminals. This is not unexpected. In their rush to hate guns and gun owners, they defend and praise some of the worst sorts of criminals.
Back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, one of the most prolific gun writers on the subject of self-defense was a Detroit copper named Evan Marshall. He advocated everything you just said, using different words.
He stated that if you’re in a store or restaurant during a robbery, your best course of action is to “act like a CPA from Dayton” and take no aggressive action, but to be a good witness. Only if the offender(s) show evidence of going beyond robbery, e.g., putting people on the floor, should you take action.
This advice came from a guy who had killed people in LE encounters, and had acted “like a CPA from Dayton” in others, so he knew whereof he spoke.
I worked in a convenience store. We were told not to challenge a shoplifter but to get his license plate. It was the most reliable info to give to the cops. This at have been why the thief was followed outside.
Every time CSGV or any other anti-gun group posts up a “[CCW holder] shoots and kills [someone] over [innocuous activity]”, my gut response is, “Yeah? What ELSE was [someone] doing, BESIDES [innocuous activity]?”
No reasonable person shoots someone over stolen beer. Shooting someone who’s threatening your life WHILE stealing beer is another story, and ironically has little to do with the beer.
They always play down the criminal and play up the legal shooter.Who knows next they will have him getting beer for a church social when he was shot by another gun nut and he wanted the log for a bonfire at that church.The anti’s really do need to get a life.