North Carolina folks fight back.......

[Sly Dog]

http://www.charlotte.com/local/story/198785.html
DANGEROUS DECISION
Some robbery targets fight back
But police don't advise self-defense because of risk for serious injury
CLEVE R. WOOTSON JR.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com



Three times last week, would-be victims fought back against people trying to rob them, injuring two and killing a third.

The incidents span Charlotte and include the city's most recent slaying, a 24-year-old who was shot after struggling with the occupants in an east Charlotte house whom police say he was trying to steal from.

In North Carolina, it's legal to shoot someone in self-defense or while defending another person. It's also dangerous, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recommend against it. Comply with the robber, they say, then call officers afterward.

The three cases last week have all been sent to the District Attorney's office, which will decide if charges will be filed.

The latest incident happened about 3:45 a.m. Friday when the owner of a limousine business and his driver were about to pull the company's stretch SUV into the garage on South Tryon Street. When they went outside, two men pulled up in a small car.

"The guy was pointing the gun, and he said, `Don't move. Don't move. Give us everything you have,' " said the owner, who asked that his name and company's name not be used so customers wouldn't be scared off.

The owner and his driver handed over their watches and wallets. One of the assailants went around to rummage through the limo, while the other trained a gun on the owner and the driver, telling them not to move.

That's when a laptop in the passenger seat caught the robber's eye.

"He decided to hold the gun on me at the same time while he was trying to reach the computer," the owner said. "He was focusing on getting the bag, and I was focusing on the gun, so I just grabbed the gun. While we were wrestling with it, it went off."

The robbers fled. But a few minutes later, police said, a man with a gunshot wound to the chest was dropped off at Carolinas Medical Center. Police believe the man, who is still in the hospital with life-threatening injuries, may be the robber.

In the other incidents:

• Just before 9 p.m. Tuesday, police say Michael Travis White walked into a house at 5816 Eastbrook Road with a handgun. The people in the house struggled with him, and White was shot. He died a day later at Carolinas Medical Center.

Police are waiting on the District Attorney's Office to see if any charges will be filed.

• Just after 7 p.m. Monday, a robbery suspect was taken by paramedics to Carolinas Medical Center with life-threatening injuries after he and an accomplice tried to hold up a 58-year-old man.

Police say the two armed men confronted the victim near a parking lot off Beatties Ford Road, just north of Interstate 85. But the victim pulled out a gun of his own, police say, and shot one of the men.

The wounded suspect's identity has not been released. Police have not released an update on his condition. The other man fled on foot.

Serious risks

Police never suggest that robbery victims fight back. "Honestly, what happens more is we tend to see people injured when they confront these folks," said Sgt. Kevin Barbee, of the police department's armed robbery division.

In one 11-hour period earlier this month, there were three robberies where the victims ended up in the hospital with gunshot wounds. The shootings included a man who died after being robbed in the Double Oaks community in northern Charlotte. It was unclear whether the victims fought back.

Then there are the legal issues. People who shoot robbers, even in self-defense, face further legal scrutiny, if not by police, then by the district attorney.

In May, the district attorney charged a McDonald's employee who shot at a man trying to rob the restaurant. The employee wasn't charged with murder, but he was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, stemming from a 2001 conviction for cocaine possession.

"The law authorizes you to defend yourself, but the case has to be thoroughly investigated by the detective," Barbee said. "We do not make the determination even when one of our officers is involved in a shooting."

Someone who successfully defended himself against a robber is not sure he'd try it again.

"The best thing is to be cooperative with the people," the owner of the limousine company said. "I got the gun from his hand. But it could have been different."

Newsroom: Letters to the Editor
opinion@charlotteobserver.com

[Venus Pax]

Just be compliant. Give them everything. Oh, and let them shoot you while you're at it.
Sounds like a plan.

[stevie_d_64]

In North Carolina, it's legal to shoot someone in self-defense or while defending another person. It's also dangerous, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recommend against it. Comply with the robber, they say, then call officers afterward.

Sure, lets send the message that criminals can rest assured that the odds of their survival while conducting their illegalities is pretty good...

I'm not going to bother banging my head on a wall this time...

The three cases last week have all been sent to the District Attorney's office, which will decide if charges will be filed.

Money and time well spent!

Come on Roy! Get in here and give us a good ole "Bull Butter!"

[Wildscar]

I'm not going to bother banging my head on a wall this time...

I'll do it for ya....

Sorry Ill not go quietly into the night as a willing participant in any encounter where someone want something I have not given them freely.

[stevie_d_64]

I'm not going to bother banging my head on a wall this time...

I'll do it for ya....

Sorry Ill not go quietly into the night as a willing participant in any encounter where someone want something I have not given them freely.

I got three letters for you...

IRS

(Steve runs, yet again, for effective cover cause "Wildscar" can shoot pretty good I hear!)

[ScubaSigGuy]

The incidents span Charlotte and include the city's most recent slaying, a 24-year-old who was shot after struggling with the occupants in an east Charlotte house whom police say he was trying to steal from.

Slaying??? That's an interesting word to use for a self defense shooting.

In North Carolina, it's legal to shoot someone in self-defense or while defending another person. It's also dangerous, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police recommend against it.

Isn't it also dangerous to be held at gunpoint?

Then there are the legal issues. People who shoot robbers, even in self-defense, face further legal scrutiny, if not by police, then by the district attorney.

In May, the district attorney charged a McDonald's employee who shot at a man trying to rob the restaurant. The employee wasn't charged with murder, but he was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, stemming from a 2001 conviction for cocaine possession.

How is this really a relevant example? The shooter was a felon!!! he not being charged because he shot in self defense, he's being charged because he can't legally have a firearm.

"

[Paladin]

WOOTSON sure wrote a nice PRO-criminal piece.

He sounds almost upset that all those armed robbers got shot.

[hi-power]

Hugs people!
A group hug can stop violent crime!
Everyone should do this in response to a gun to the head.

(I'd better stop before I barf! An admonishment against doing something like that does not appear in this article).

Intruder Pulls Gun on Dinner Party, Then Asks for Hugs

WASHINGTON — Washington, D.C., police are baffled by an attempted robbery in the Capitol Hill neighborhood that began with a handgun put to the head of a teenager and ended in a group hug.

It started about midnight on June 16 when a group of friends was finishing a dinner of marinated steaks and jumbo shrimp on the back patio of a District of Columbia home. That's when a hooded man slid through an open gate and pointed a handgun at the head of a 14-year-old girl.

"Give me your money, or I'll start shooting," he said, according to D.C. police and witnesses.

Everyone froze, including the girl's parents. Then one guest spoke.

"We were just finishing dinner," Cristina "Cha Cha" Rowan, 43, told the man. "Why don't you have a glass of wine with us?"

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St-Exupery and said, "Damn, that's good wine."

The girl's father, Michael Rabdau, 51, told the intruder to take the whole glass, and Rowan offered him the whole bottle.

The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants.

The story then turns even more bizarre.

"I think I may have come to the wrong house," he said before apologizing. "Can I get a hug?"

Rowan, who works at her children's school and lives in Falls Church, Va., stood up and wrapped her arms around the armed man. The four other guests followed.

"Can we have a group hug?" the man asked. The five adults complied.

The man walked away a few moments later with the crystal wine glass in hand. Nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt.

Once he was gone, the group walked into the house, locked the door and stared at each other — speechless. Rabdau called 911, and police came to take a report and dust for fingerprints.

Police classified the case as strange but true. Investigators have not located a suspect. The witnesses thought he might have been high on drugs.

"We've had robbers that apologize and stuff but nothing where they sit down and drink wine. It definitely is strange," said Cmdr. Diane Groomes, adding that the hugs were especially unusual. "The only good thing is they would be able to identify him because they hugged them."

[portsider44]

Police never suggest that robbery victims fight back. "Honestly, what happens more is we tend to see people injured when they confront these folks," said Sgt. Kevin Barbee, of the police department's armed robbery division.

That advice didn't do much good for this true victim, http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/13644955/detail.html

[Wildscar]

I'm not going to bother banging my head on a wall this time...

I'll do it for ya....

Sorry Ill not go quietly into the night as a willing participant in any encounter where someone want something I have not given them freely.

I got three letters for you...

IRS

(Steve runs, yet again, for effective cover cause "Wildscar" can shoot pretty good I hear!)

Ok let me rephrase my statement and add "While physically standing in my presence"

And here is my impersonation of Stevie trying to dive for cover.

.:.;";'

[stevie_d_64]

Missed me!

[Wildscar]

Missed me!

Only casue I wasnt aimin for ya.