This is not your simple “Why did they have to shoot him?” post. Please see the video first and then read on.
CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -It’s been a difficult week for parents Temia Hairston and Michael Grace Sr. Their son, Michael Grace Jr, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery early Sunday morning. Police said Grace Jr and two other people tried to rob a Pizza Hut in the 3200 block of Freedom Drive. During the incident, an employee fired his own handgun and killed Grace Jr. Hairston said she learned of her son’s death on social media, and only got confirmation from police after contacting them first. The grieving mother said she has been left with dozens of questions about the situation that have thus far gone unanswered.“If there was to be a death, it was not the place of the employee at Pizza Hut. That is the place of law enforcement,” said Hairston.Hairston and Grace Sr acknowledged that their son was breaking the law by robbing the business, and said they definitely don’t condone what he did.
“What is the policy about employees having guns on the premises? Mom asks. That is a weird question to ask, right? She continues:
“Was he a security guard?, was he back there cooking dough? Was he back there throwing pizzas in the oven? What was his position? Why did he have a gun?”
Now, remember that she knows her son was breaking the law (but probably does not know you can get shot and killed by a civilian when you point a gun on their general direction during the commission of a felony) but does not think he would hurt anybody. And then we come to the very interesting part:
They also said their son used to work at the same Pizza Hut restaurant where the robbery happened.
DING-DING_DING!
Now the enigma why she asks about the Pizza Hut’s Gun Policy for employees is resolved: She thought her son was going to safely rob a Gun Free Zone. That was one safe bet that did not pan out as intended.
She tries to cover by saying her son had issues with other employees. Well, if you had “issues” and come inside the joint with a gun, what do you expect to get? Large pan pizza with pepperoni, ham and pineapple? What she says simply does not make sense to regular, law-abiding citizens, but it sure makes sense to criminals.
It gets better:
“This wasn’t a body shot. This was a head shot. My son was shot in the left side of his head just behind his ear. A headshot is personal,” said Hairston.
No dear, it indicates the shooter is proficient with his weapon and felt confident about the shot. Of course, in her criminal circles a headshot usually means they got up close from behind an unsuspected person and shot them point blank range.
“Even a criminal has a right to a degree,” said Grace Sr. “I’m not advocating what my son did.”
Your son decided to commit a violent act upon innocent people. The people inside the Pizza Hut also have the right to defend themselves and one did. If your very adult son had decided at any time to stop his actions before going inside the place with a gun, he would still be alive.
The family said they want Pizza Hut to release more information about the situation and acknowledge that their son used to be a Pizza Hut employee.
That sounds strangely like “We wanna kill that fucker and sue Pizza Hut.”
Hairston said she thinks the employee who shot her son needs to be in jail, and wants all parties involved in the situation to be honest about what happened.
I always feel warm/fuzzy when suspected criminals demand jail time for others.
But Miguel! How dare you call a grieving mother a criminal? Because after reading the statements and watching the video, it is my strong belief she condoned what her son was doing for a living and very likely she knew he was going to rob that particular Pizza Hut. And now she sees the possibility of cashing in on the death of Junior rather than being embarrassed by his actions. Or you Guys/Gals did not catch the lack of emotion coming from that woman about the death of the fruit of her womb?
Criminals Do Not Think Like Us Nor Have The Morals.
Maybe she should have taught her (dead) thug progeny that nice people don’t go around committing crimes. I have exactly zero sympathy for people like this. If she does file a lawsuit against Pizza Hut, she should be laughed right out of the court house. She should also have to pay the Hut’s legal bill.
You know the employee that shot him is going to be fired. But at least he’s alive to work somewhere else. The corporate lawyers think it’s cheaper to pay for a dead employee than a dead thug. A friend of mine worked for the Hut and was fired because he defended his self against a armed robber. He managed to knock the robbers gun away from his body, drew his gun and put 3 rounds of 22 in his guts. I chewed his ass for carrying a gun that small. He’s since upgraded to a S&W bodyguard.
The pizza place where I work allows me to carry. The boss like the idea of someone being able to defend the other employees is something happens. I’ve told them that the best thing is to comply with a robber up to a point. It’s when they want everyone to go to the back that they need to fight like thier life depends on it, because it just might. There have been a lot of cases where the employees were taken to the back and executed.
I would hazard a guess that she consented to his crimes.
I’m going to take a wild ass guess and say the employee was probably the closing driver.
My rebuttal to Ms Hairston:
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. You are the cancer in a free society. FOAD.
+1000
“Was he back there cooking dough? Was he back there throwing pizzas in the oven?”
No, lady, he wasn’t — as your son surely knew, it was after closing time, when the employees would be tired and there would be far fewer witnesses. Your son and his robbing crew (there were three total) knew this.
“Why in the hell did this guy have a gun?” questioned Hairston about the employee who shot her son.
He had a gun because there are people LIKE YOUR SON!
He used to work there. The employees knew his name. What are the chances someone would be able to identify him? They cannot identify him if they are all dead.
Mama said he was desperate. Mama said he was angry at the people he worked with. I wonder just how angry and desperate he was? Would the headline have been “4 Found Dead in Local Restaurant”?
Any video and audio probably would be chilling
Don’t think this isn’t deliberate. THE entire point, as with Black Lives Matter and the persecution of Zimmerman, is to create a de facto standard that it is illegitimate to defend yourself against a black attacker.
Exactly. You must submit to their predation or you are mean, vile, racist!!
RD has it dead on (pun intended). He’s robbing a place he worked at where he has people issues. I’d bet a large pizza that he would have left no witnesses.
Grieving parents with a moral compass would have been so embarrassed that they would never have given an interview. Apple does not fall far from the tree.
Dang, all the GOOD comments have been made… NO sympathy here either…
I have as much disdain for the moronic producers at that local TV station for running such a story. WBTV, you have gone full retard.
The mother’s position is morally corrupt on its face; the message the mother is flogging will get innocent people killed.
A DOLT TWIT FOR SURE!
Mom meet the second amendment, tell all your friends nabors, it is repulsive you think your son pulls a gun and you think only unarmed victims get to play ? Wake up and act right, btw a cop would have shot him as well, and he would be just as dead!
I have lost a child, she was 27 yo and died from an accident. She was not a robber, she didn’t own a gun, she was’t shot. She wasn’t really a victim b/c it was an accident, but I could not have been able to get on TV and talk about losing her. I was in such shock I just laid in bed and cried for days until my husband said, “we need to bury this child” I couldn’t even call my parents out of town, I couldn’t talk!!! It’s been 3 1/2 years and I still cry when I talk about losing her. I have been in therapy and a support group, and I have never seen a mother who lost a child be so calm, and show no grief. She was more upset about the Pizza Hut employee having a gun and what Pizza Hut’s rules are on things like this. To me, I see her trying to lay down a foundation for a law suit. I could have sued the person responsible for the accident for being careless with my child’s life, but that would not have brought my precious girl back to me. My other daughter went through some depression after her sister’s death and got laid off from her job. Unemployment wasn’t enough to pay her car payment and insurance, cell phone, etc so we helped her out. That’s what parents do. They help their kids out, not encourage them to go rob a Pizza Hut…..