HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS- Looks like we have some nominees for worlds dumbest criminals of 2020, after an attempted robbery of a gun shop left one of the suspects dead.
In Harris County, Texas, a group of several suspects decided to rob a local gun store when they met the 79-year-old owner in the commission of it. Authorities reported that the gun store owner exchanged fire with the suspects, striking and killing one of them.
Sheriff’s deputies stated that the robbery took place at around 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning this past week near the 2000 block of Kennings.
The gun shop owner, who was described as a military veteran, said that he heard a commotion outside as he lives on the property where the gun shop is located.
Upon stepping out, he saw several individuals who had chained a vehicle to the front door of his gun shop and then saw the suspects yank the door off of its hinges.
Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stated that at least one of the suspects involved with removing the shop door had gained entry into the store, when moments later one of the suspects had noticed the 79-year-old owner and immediately began shooting at him.
The owner returned fire, hitting one of the suspects before they all got away in the vehicle.
Approximately 10 minutes after the exchange of gunfire, a man in his late 20’s was found dead on the 3800 block of Morelos, about seven miles away from the robbery.
Deputies had discovered the body on the roadway, not far from an abandoned vehicle with its car doors open.
When investigators began reviewing the scene of the discovered body, it was determined that the man was one of the suspects involved with the robbery at the gun store.
The individual was found to have died as a result of a gunshot wound, stemming from the exchange from the gun shop owner. At the scene of the body, investigators also recovered two pistols near the man believed to have been stolen in the commission of the robbery.
From what Sheriff Ed Gonzalez has shared so far on the case, two other suspects were also apprehended nearby the scene and were arrested in connection with the robbery. The case is currently being referred over to a grand jury.
The gun shop owner stated that this was the second time that his store has been looted, with the first instance happening back in just November of 2019.
Locals within the community appear to be quite familiar with the owner, and the response online to Sheriff Ed Gonzalez’s Facebook post about the incident shows a mixture of support for the owner as well as remarking on how incredibly dumb it is to rob a gun store.
Cindy Willis replied on the Facebook post detailing the status of the investigation with:
“It takes a special kind of stupid to rob a gun shop in our town.”
While another local, Mike Kercher, was familiar with the previous robbery and stated:
“This shop was burglarized a few weeks ago…these losers came back for round two…they chose poorly!”
It’s hard not to agree with the sentiment that robbing a gun store has to be one of the dumbest moves a criminal can make. Then again, we live in an age where people created an event online to storm a highly classified United States Air Force facility in Nevada.
Even if the storm Area 51 event was done jest, it also serves as an example at the kind of mentality present today.
While the alleged robbers involved in this case haven’t had their identities revealed by authorities, the deceased suspect is going to make for a strong contender in the 2020 Darwin Awards.
Let’s not forget about a similar story earlier this week out of Columbus, Indiana.
That’s where a home invader learned the hard way that not everyone plans on being a victim while inside their home. For this home invasion suspect, you could say there was a “swing and a miss” with regard to their plot to do harm, as the homeowner gunned down the suspect that broke in.
The Columbus Police Department along with the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team are currently looking into a shooting that took place inside a home early Saturday morning.
While there was a shooting that took place, no arrests have been reported.
That’s because the victim was actually the shooter, and the alleged perpetrator had already had some swift justice served before police could arrive and charge the man with a home invasion.
Just before 1:00 a.m. on January 4th, police officers were called out to respond to a residence in the 2000 block of Home Avenue after there were reports of shots fired. According to Lt. Matt Harris, the Columbus Police Department spokesman, arriving officers came upon a man with multiple gunshot wounds inside the home.
From what the homeowner told responding officers, he was inside his home when an unknown individual toting a baseball bat confronted him. Clearly the homeowner wasn’t in the mood to play games and fired his weapon multiple times at the suspect, taking him down.
When the man was later brought to the Columbus Regional Hospital by paramedics, he was pronounced dead.
At this point during the investigation, officials from the Bartholomew County Death Investigation Team are overseeing the case with no further details revealed.
It’s situations just like these that prove the importance of the second amendment and owning a firearm inside of your home. While the potential victim in the above case could have suffered severe injury, or even death, from the bat wielding intruder, he managed to neutralize the threat.
Back in August of last year in the very same city, a family was terrorized in their home by a man only armed with a knife. In that instance, the victims were at the mercy of the suspect and held captive for hours while waiting on police to intervene.
In the early morning hours of August 5th, 2019, a nearly three-hour standoff played out between police and a man who had barricaded himself inside a Columbus, Indiana home.
What made the standoff so tense was the fact that the knife-wielding man was holding three children captive inside the home, two of them being his very own children.
Police officers were called out to a home in the 1000 block of Iowa Street just before 5:00 a.m. when reports came in that there was a man armed with a knife who had broken into a home. When the break-in occurred, there were a total of seven children inside of the house, but four were able to escape from the house during the incident.
Police identified Tyrrice L. Degraffenreid as the man inside the home with the three other children, who was refusing to leave the home when ordered by police.
That’s when officers decided to involve the SWAT team to aid in securing the armed suspect and rescuing the kids inside. SWAT members made their way into the home, initially securing the remaining children inside.
Luckily, no one was harmed during the entire ordeal, and police found Degraffenreid hiding in a bedroom when they had entered the home.
Degraffenreid was charged with residential entry and violation of a protective order. He was then transferred over to the Bartholomew County Jail. While the jail doesn’t maintain an online database regarding their inmates, as of now there’s been no admission to the Departments of Corrections within the state.
Last week in Houston, we proudly brought you another “good guy with a gun” story.
A man who was about to be the victim of an armed robbery outside of a local gas station turned the tables on the situation rather quickly. He instead served up a healthy dose of lead for a would-be armed robber instead of his belongings.
The concealed carrier who was simply sitting in his jeep at the time killed the suspect during the conflict.
Local news station Fox 26 was on the scene of the after the gunfight took place at roughly 4:00 p.m. on December 27th, and was able to speak with both police and witnesses who were on site.
Lt. David Klozik from the Harris County Sheriffs Office provided the details of what transpired at the gas station robbery gone awry for the suspect involved:
“Someone approached, attempted to rob the individual inside the vehicle. There was an exchange of gunfire between the vehicle owner and our suspects.”
According to reports, the unidentified victim of the attempted armed robbery was shot by the suspect during the confrontation, but is expected to survive. Lt. Klozick stated the following with regard to the extent of the injuries sustained by the victim:
“The person inside the vehicle was transported the hospital with gunshot wounds.”
Apparently, the area of Houston sees a healthy uptick of robbery related offenses during the holiday season, as mentioned by Klozick as well:
“Unfortunately, the holiday season, robberies and carjackings; this type of behavior does escalate unfortunately.”
One witness who was present for the exchange of gunfire, Crystal Bryant, described the scene that played out over what seems to only have been a period of seconds:
“There was about 11 to 12 shots, like a binary trigger you would hear.”
Bryant also didn’t shy away from pointing out that the individual inside of the jeep at the time clearly knew their way around handling a firearm better than the suspect:
“[The suspect] pulled out his gun, the robber pulled his and started shooting at the man [in] the jeep. The man with the jeep was a better shot, and he shot and killed the robber.”
While speculating the events that played out over things of monetary value, Bryant added:
“Nothing is worth bloodshed.”
According to the local news crew that was on site after the events had played out, it was reported that the family of the deceased suspect had arrived on scene as well.
When the family members of the suspect were asked whether they’d be willing to be on camera for an interview, they had declined.
However, the brother of the suspect did comment to reporters that he was devastated to have lost his younger brother in this altercation, as he had already recently lost another one of his brothers. The unidentified brother was quoted as saying, regarding his deceased brother’s alleged actions:
“He’s not the type to do this.”
It goes without saying that crimes of this nature spike around this time of year nationally, not just only in Houston; yet, whenever someone decides that they’re going to attempt to rob someone forcefully while armed, they’re gambling with their own life in that instant.
Based upon what has been reported so far on the incident, there’s hasn’t been any mention of charges being relayed against the concealed carry holder who exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
Considering that Texas holds a “no duty to retreat” rule, there’s likely nothing that will be levied against the individual either.
In Texas, you’re justified in using deadly force if you reasonably believe it’s immediately necessary to protect yourself from another’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force. Based upon what has been reported, this sounds like a textbook application of the state rule.
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