Sunday, September 21, 2008



Georgia: Robber Disarmed by Employees: "Police are praising four employees of a Forest Park, Georgia furniture store for a bold stroke of self-defense, for turning the tables on an armed robber, for risking their lives to disarm and capture the masked man, who had invaded their store Tuesday morning. Tuesday morning a man wearing a green mask stuck a handgun in the back of one of Burndette's employees as the employee was entering the front door. The surveillance video shows the gunman marching the employee inside the store, across the furniture showroom, straight into the office, and then forcing all four employees onto the floor, face down. Burndette said the gunman threatened to kill everyone. Burndette said the gunman demanded that one of the employees disable the surveillance cameras and give him the video tapes to take with him. And, for a split second, the gunman turned away. "That's when we had the opportunity to grab the suspect," Burndette said. "The opportunity was that when he actually turned his back, when he asked for the camera, when he approached the guy, when the associate approached and said the tape was not in the camera, in the VCR, that's when he turned his back and was getting ready to, I guess, fire." Darren Marshall, the store's accounts manager, was the first to grab for the robber's gun. The video shows the employees finally getting control of the gun and falling in a heap on the gunman, keeping him on the floor until police arrived a few minutes later. Forest Park Police said the gunman is 21-year-old Shawn Henderson of Jonesboro, GA. Henderson had to receive treatment in a hospital for injuries he received in the struggle. He's now in jail"


Mississippi clerk shoots robber: "Jackson police say they won't charge a gas station clerk in the shooting death of a robbery suspect. Police spokesman Lt. Jeffery Scott says a man wearing a clown mask and carrying a gun entered the gas station just after 9 p.m. Sunday. The man took money from the register and ran from the store. Scott says the clerk followed the man outside and shot several times, hitting the suspect as he ran behind a storage shed. The suspect was brought a hospital, where Hinds County Coroner Sharon Grisham-Stewart says he died shortly after 10 p.m. Scott says the clerk, whose name wasn't released, was defending himself."


Shooting becomes a test of Missouri's new `castle doctrine' law: "When Rogelio Johnson allegedly climbed through a window and confronted Jackie Gleason in her home near Kirksville, Mo., in May, she shot him dead. A crime? Yes, concluded an Adair County coroner's jury last month. Not so fast, said county Prosecutor Mark Williams, who says the shooting may be justified under a new Missouri law known as the "castle doctrine" that allows a person to use lethal force against intruders. Although the coroner's jury said Gleason committed "death by felony," Williams was not convinced the jury completely understood the doctrine. Besides, he said, he found juror misconduct because one juror said Gleason was guilty before hearing testimony. Williams asked that the Missouri attorney general's office determine if charges are warranted. The attorney general's office has not yet appointed anyone to the case, but should start reviewing it in the next few weeks, a spokesman said Wednesday. The inquest before the six-member coroner's jury lasted two days. In most Missouri counties, coroners are required to investigate deaths that appear to be the result of foul play. When the circumstances of a death are particularly complicated or unclear, a coroner may call a jury to examine the facts of the case. In a taped interview with a Missouri Highway Patrol officer that was played during the inquest, Gleason said Johnson approached her with his hands clasped in front of him as if in a firing position, although no weapon was found. Johnson was Gleason's estranged boyfriend and was under court order to stay away from her house. The front door was locked when he came in through the window, she said. Adair County Sheriff Leonard Clark deferred to the patrol for the investigation because of a potential conflict of interest. He does not agree with the jury's finding. "Based on the information I have at this time, I do not believe there was any criminal wrongdoing," Clark said."


More details on CA shooting blogged here on 19th. "Amariae Sanders was a 16-year-old boy who may have thought a San Pablo gift shop would be an easy mark. But when he vaulted the counter while armed with a sawed-off shotgun, he had no way of knowing that the store owner would fight back, police say. Brian Wogsland, the owner of A&L Posters on San Pablo Avenue, had been robbed twice before and was ready when Sanders and another young man entered about 5 p.m. Tuesday, authorities said. He pulled a handgun and fired numerous shots, striking Sanders in the head and chest. In an instant, Sanders was dead and Wogsland was left trying to deal with the third - and most violent - incident over the past year in which he was targeted by robbers. "He was pretty upset when we interviewed him," said police Sgt. Dave Lewellyn. "He obviously didn't want to have to shoot anybody. But he has been the victim of violent crime, and at some point he's going to have to take these kinds of measures to protect himself. He told us he was in fear for his life." After Wogsland opened fire, the other would-be robber fled out the front door of the shop at 14650 San Pablo Ave. He remained at large Wednesday."

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