Toy gun gas station robbery

[ElsiePeaRN]

This idiot is lucky that all he got was arrested! The guy tried to rob a local gas station with a toy gun. The gas station attendant pulled out his real gun and the guy ran.

The News-Examiner > Local News > Toy gun leads to robbery charge

 

[JohnP82]

Freakin idiot! Get a job

 

[singlesix]

Gun Control is working! Criminals have toys and citizens have the real guns.
Can't read the story .. "must be a subscriber"

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

Gun Control is working! Criminals have toys and citizens have the real guns.
Can't read the story .. "must be a subscriber"

oh! sorry! I didn't know that.

I can't post the article here because of copyright! Here's the scoop:

On March 17, around 5:30PM, 32-year-old Timithy Paul Blair, 32, of Cambridge City, pulled a toy gun and pointed it at the attendant at the Swifty gas station on Western Ave, saying he was going to rob him. The attendant then pulled his REAL gun and the guy took off north on 1, throwing the toy gun out the window along the way. The article quoted the local police detective, Craig Pennington, about the attendant pulling the gun, "That's not something we advocate. We're just glad nobody got hurt."

Fayette County Sherriffs quickly found Blair and arrested him.

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

Had that happen on my district in March '03. Guy robbed a VP with a toy gun, then pointed said toy gun at a detective who happened to be watching the VP. The detective perforated his lungs and heart with several rounds of .45.

 

[Disposable Heart]

What riles me up is the detective saying "they don't advocate that" in regards to self defense. What a moron. No, don't defend yourself, be a sheep so his christmas tree light sized membered self can "come to the rescue". Retard.

 

[LEaSH]

I wonder if Craig Pennington's wife, brother, or son, or daughter was having to work in the gas station at night, what would he advocate or not advocate?

 

[Hornett]

 

[paddling_man]

Did he get a can of STP and a Japanese TV?

 

[schafe]

1. Police found pieces of the toy gun on Indiana 1 where it had been thrown out of a vehicle.

I thought you only needed to throw out the real ones after the robbery

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

Had that happen on my district in March '03. Guy robbed a VP with a toy gun, then pointed said toy gun at a detective who happened to be watching the VP. The detective perforated his lungs and heart with several rounds of .45.

That's just what I meant about this guy being lucky he only got arrested! I guess if these people ahd any common sense, they wouldn't be trying to rob someone at all, so I don't know why I would expect them to have the sense not to try it with a toy gun

Wow,, you know, this story just reminded me of something I had almost forgotten about! When I was a teenager, some 30+ years ago, I worked at a finance company making collection calls (Blech--hated it, but it was a job!) I was one of two people in the office when a man came in with a newspaper under his arm and didn't say much. I asked him if he wanted to apply for a loan and he said yeah. I sat him down and brought him the application and he just stared at it and me and looked around the office. I sort of got the feeling he couldn't read. I asked if he needed help filling it out and he said yes.

I went to the back room to get the office manager and went back to my calls and wondered if he couldn't read, why did he have a newspaper under his arm? I was on the phone with a police sargeant when the guy and the office manager came back up front.

Just as I hung up the phone, I saw the guy had his face covered with one of those full face ski hat/mask things and the newspaper wrapped around his hand. I could see something black in there. The office manager was white as a ghost. The man said he'd shoot me if I moved and pointed the newspaper at me like it was a gun as the office manager was opening the safe. I was sitting there trying to figure out if it was just a black glove in there or really a gun! He took something like $600. I don't think they ever found him. It always bugged me that was on teh phone with a policman when this guy started robbing us!

I'm amazed that I haven't even thought of that it many years. How can somebody forget being robbed at "gunpoint"?? Well, newspaper point anyway!

So, I guess toy guns and newspapers work sometimes, huh? Now that I'm older, I've come to the conclusion that he probably did not, in fact, have a gun.

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

What riles me up is the detective saying "they don't advocate that" in regards to self defense. What a moron. No, don't defend yourself, be a sheep so his christmas tree light sized membered self can "come to the rescue". Retard.

I'll let the LEOs speak to this if they wish, but this has always been the advice given to people when someone is holding a weapon. Your property is not worth your life, etc. I doubt the detective is a moron and I'd say you are a little presumptuous about some of his other personal attributes.

You may disagree that this is the best way to handle it, and in some circumstances I imagine I might have done the same as the gas station attendant, but that doesn't make the detective a moron. (and by the way, your calling someone a "retard" says far more about you than you know.)

Not everyone who has a gun is trained to use it or even has a plan for something like this. If the gun had not been a toy, pulling a gun on him MAY have cost the gas attendant his life. One needs to weigh many more factors than we know about the situation to know whether the attendant did a smart thing or not.

 

[OWGEM]

What riles me up is the detective saying "they don't advocate that" in regards to self defense. What a moron. No, don't defend yourself, be a sheep so his christmas tree light sized membered self can "come to the rescue". Retard.

Perhaps it is called CYA? Let's say the LE agency said they did advocate citizens defending themselves. "Yes we encourage citizens to draw and fire on the perpetrator in situations like this."

And then the perpetrator kills someone. The family then sues the LE agency, "The cops told us to shoot and look what happened!"

Looks to me like its a no win situation for LE.

 

[DeadeyeChrista'sdad]

I dunno guys. My kids always sort of looked at me and said words to the effect that "boy he better not try that on our dad! He has a gun!!" At which point I'd explain to them that unless it looked like either they, their mother, myself or someone else with us was going to get shot anyway, they could HAVE my wallet, watch, ring, etc. I'm not going to argue with an armed man, much less draw down on him. Looks good in the movies, but it's really already gone to hell anyway if I'm feeling the need to try to outshoot a bad guy at close range when he already has his weapon out, especially if people dear to me are close by.

 

[Walter Zoomie]

Had that happen on my district in March '03. Guy robbed a VP with a toy gun, then pointed said toy gun at a detective who happened to be watching the VP. The detective perforated his lungs and heart with several rounds of .45.

The feel-good story of the day!
Thanks Frank.

 

[revance]

Perhaps it is called CYA? Let's say the LE agency said they did advocate citizens defending themselves. "Yes we encourage citizens to draw and fire on the perpetrator in situations like this."

And then the perpetrator kills someone. The family then sues the LE agency, "The cops told us to shoot and look what happened!"

Looks to me like its a no win situation for LE.

That is why they should keep their mouths shut on the issue. If they must say something, they should commend the person for their actions and remind everyone that they should understand the risks when making the personal decision on how to best defend themselves.

It is a great opportunity for them to encourage people to give serious thought and consideration to how they defend themselves and that if they choose to own a weapon for self defense to consult professionals and get training on how and when to deploy them.

Back when I took Ken Campbell's class he handed out a paper (I don't think written by him) emphasizing the seriousness of deciding to keep/carry a weapon for self protection. It basically said it was a personal decision that deserves a lot of attention and regardless of what you choose to use for self defense, you should consult professionals and get training on the proper deployment of said choice.