Armed customer thwarts grocery robbery

[Fenway]

Armed customer thwarts grocery robbery | IndyStar.com

A 51-year-old man stopped a masked man from robbing a Southside grocery store and held him at gunpoint until police arrive d.

Charlie Merrell was in checkout line at Bucks IGA Supermarket, 3015 S. Meridian St., when a masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee at 5:17 p.m. Monday, according to a police report made public today.
While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers, the police report states that Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the robber and ordered him to put down his weapon.

When the suspect hesitated, Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber, Officer Jason Bockting wrote in the report.
The suspect placed his gun and a bag of cash on the counter, dropping some of the money, police said. The suspect removed his mask and lay on the floor. Merrell held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived and took him away in handcuffs.

Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, police said. Police recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun from the suspect and $779 in cash, according to the report.

Dwain Smith, 19, was arrested on initial charges of robbery, criminal confinement, pointing a firearm, battery and carrying a handgun without a license. Smith remained held this morning in the Marion County Jail with bond set at $30,000, records show.

Call Star reporter Vic Ryckaert at (317) 444-2761.

 

[indyninja]

what if the suspect didnt hesitate but pointed his gun and shot at the good citizen

When the suspect hesitated, Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber, Officer Jason Bockting wrote in the report.

 

[465guy]

This story could have had a very bad ending. Always carry one in the pipe or don't carry IMHO.

what if the suspect didnt hesitate but pointed his gun and shot at the good citizen

 

[esrice]

Carrying with an empty chamber is like a half-step above not carrying ANYTHING.

Keep one in the pipe.
Keep your trigger guard covered in a good-quality holster.
Keep your finger off the trigger until your're ready to shoot.

 

[465guy]

Agreed!

Carrying with an empty chamber is like a half-step above not carrying ANYTHING.

Keep one in the pipe.
Keep your trigger guard covered in a good-quality holster.
Keep your finger off the trigger until your're ready to shoot.

 

[38special]

Agreed....gotta keep one in the chamber. I'll carry a revolver so it shouldn't be a problem anyway.

 

[sporter]

Good for him. Of course he should have had one chambered before he drew.

 

[LCSOSgt11]

Boy, was this guy lucky. ALWAYS carry with one in the pipe ready to go. You just cannot predict what an armed robber will do, if he's (or she's) doped up, they just may try to shoot it out. Not having a fully loaded defense weapon is tantamount to putting one foot in the coffin....

Oh, and don't forget to CARRY PLENTY OF SPARE AMMO, at least one spare magazine for an auto, and at least one full reload for a revolver.

 

[Cygnus]

Great job by this guy!
Yeah shoulda had one racked but this is a great example of responsable use that will go unreported ( on national TV) because no shots were fired. Another way for a "good" gun story to slip by the cracks. At least the paper did a story on it though.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Talk about thread resurrection!

 

[Cygnus]

Talk about thread resurrection!

Ha! Didn;t realize it was a necrothread till you pointed it out!

 

[HandK]

Yep always loaded to the max one in the pipe. This brings up another question Open carry ? you lose the element of surprise ? and it is also a shoot me first for the bad guys, It is Concealed carry for me!! and Plus one for Charlie Merrell .

 

[revance]

Sorry to add to the zombie thread, but...

how exactly is it a GOOD idea to point an UNLOADED weapon at a criminal who currently has a LOADED weapon pointed at someone else?

I have to disagree with the earlier post about it being a half step above not carrying. I would put it several steps below. At least when you aren't carrying you aren't going to point your finger at the guy and demand he drop his LOADED GUN (which is about as effective as what he did).

 

[DHolder]

Lucky for him the robber couldn't afford or find ammo.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Sorry to add to the zombie thread, but...

how exactly is it a GOOD idea to point an UNLOADED weapon at a criminal who currently has a LOADED weapon pointed at someone else?

I have to disagree with the earlier post about it being a half step above not carrying. I would put it several steps below. At least when you aren't carrying you aren't going to point your finger at the guy and demand he drop his LOADED GUN (which is about as effective as what he did).

Well to look at this whole situation of the BG having a gun pointed at him from behind, although our hero (Charlie Merrell) did not have a round in the chamber, this BG did not know that and made a sound decision that he could not turn and fire in time for him to be fired upon.

Good choice he lives to see another day, but in jail.

Charlie Merrell lives because the BG did'nt get a case of "I'm faster even though I have to turn and fire" mentality.

The end result was it was win for us oc/cc's but could have easily ended up with Charlie Merrell's death.

Not something I would have tried without a round in the pipe, that's why I'm always +1 on capacity.

 

[agentl074]

The Armed Citizen was lucky.... Next time I hope he carries hot!

 

[00BlasterResto]

Yep good story but you guys are right, there would have been no cocking of the slide....

 

[Nakatomi]

Carrying with an empty chamber is like a half-step above not carrying ANYTHING.

Keep one in the pipe.
Keep your trigger guard covered in a good-quality holster.
Keep your finger off the trigger until your're ready to shoot.

Israeli's train to carry chamber empty, but they are also trained to rack the slide as the pistol is drawn. When I carry a Glock, I usually carry Israeli style. But only Glocks. I carry one in the chamber on the P7M8 cause I figure if a crook manages to grab my gun in a fight there will be several seconds while he tries to sort out what the hell a squeeze cocker is.

This guy got lucky though...aiming the gun with an empty chamber is just dumb

 

[H.T.]

It said that the BG was holding the gun on the clerk. He could of shot the clerk then turned and shot our citizen. All befor he had a chance to even think about jacking one in the pipe.
The two things I see wrong with this are 1. He didn't have a round in the chamber, that's a big NO,NO! as I'm sure we all know. 2. And this is one that hasn't been mentioned here, that is he assumed that the BG would comply with his commands when he pulled his weapon. I know that if I have to pull my side arm especialy in a situation where a BG has a gun on a inncocent person, I'm going to kill them. You can't take a chance that the BG may or may not follow commands or that they may or may not shoot the victem. A BG with a gun is unpredictable,the safty of the innocent bystanders and yours is what's most important. When that BG picked up a gun to commit a crime he or she made a choice to put others at risk for there own personnel reasons. I won't take a chance that they won't open fire just because I pulled my side arm out and pointed it at them.
Now just to be clear..Being that every situation is diffrent. If I feel that innocent people could easily be harmed by the sudden actions of the BG then I will drop them with no warning. If there are no innocent bystanders nearby amd I can tacticly draw my side arm and order the BG to drop there weapon,then I wil.
In the case above the BG had the gun on the store employee and from the acount the BG was only a couple feet away from the clerk.
What would you do?

 

[Bubba]

In that situation, I would have been concerned about involuntary motor response if I had shot the BG. Maybe I just don't trust reporters enough, but my first thought as I read the article was that the paper was simplifying the situation and that the citizen may have had a round in the chamber, but racked the slide to try to intimidate the BG into backing down. Same situation as the homeowner racking a pump shotgun to frighten intruders. I don't necessarily agree with such alpha-male tactics as Plan A, but I won't second guess the man when I wasn't there and everyone went home safe.

Unless he just chickened out and couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger like the guy in this article at New Life Church. Then it's a whole different story.
Lt. Col Dave Grossman's Bullet-Proofing the Mind - A MUST for every concealed-carrier