Posted on 05/16/2002 7:58:47 AM PDT by Dallas
ANNISTON, Ala. --
Four young men, including two brothers browsing for videos, were shot and killed during a robbery at a Blockbuster store.
Two Blockbuster employees and the two customers were shot at close range in the back of the head about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, police said.
"I've been around a lot of crime scenes, but that was about as gruesome as I have ever seen," Police Chief Wayne Chandler said.
Employee Austin Joplin, 22, was found dead at the scene. Co-worker Douglas Neal, 27, died early Thursday at Regional Medical Center, coroner Bill Partridge said. Both men were found in an office area at the rear of the store.
Joseph Burch, about 21, and his brother Andrew, about 19, were found dead in a back aisle.
Witnesses told police a man around 20 years old with apparent acne scars and long blond hair was seen driving away in a 1980s-model Ford Mustang.
The description of both the man and car were similar to that given by witnesses to the holdup Monday at the Movie Gallery video store in Heflin, about 20 miles away, police said. A clerk was stabbed but survived; he was treated for his wounds and released.
Relatives of the victims collapsed in grief as they approached the store after word of the Wednesday killings spread.
"The entire Blockbuster family is saddened by this tragic loss," company spokesman Randy Hargrove said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the families."
Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
I think the customers ought to take a gun with them to that store, even if the employees don't have them under the counter...very dumb not to have them...at least in cash register area.
Hope he is found soon.
Do you mean they don't allow employees to carry, or they don't allow customers? (In NC they need a special sticker on the door, which our local store lacks, heh heh)
Blockbuster seems to go through a lot clerks who get shot. I know there was one here in Raleigh a year or so ago. Same MO, perp arrives before closing, shoots clerk. In that case, I don't think they even knew till the next morning.
Well, smartaleck, they obviously didn't have one of those stickers. If they did, the shooter wouldn't have been able to get in the store because he was carrying a gun. Hellloooooo!
I have a feeling that the Blockbuster employees would have asked the attacker to leave, that is if they weren't dead.
Suspect Killed During Video Store Robbery
ORANGE CITY -- Keeping watch while his son closed out the cash register, Robert Shockey parked outside the neighborhood video store armed with a .45-caliber handgun, just as he had done for the past two months.
Until Monday night, Shockey thought he'd never have to pull the trigger.
But at about 11:45 p.m., he fired four shots at a pair of robbers, killing one and injuring the other, after they tried to hold up the Blockbuster Video store on Enterprise Road, a sheriff's spokesman said.
"It's not something I'm real proud of, but it's something I had to do," Shockey said Tuesday.
Who is going to tell them if you are carrying?
Suspect Killed During Video Store Robbery ^
Posted by stainlessbanner
On Mar 19 4:44 PM with 66 comments
NewsChannel 2 ^ | 19 March 2002 | N/A
Suspect Killed During Video Store Robbery Posted: 6:34 a.m. EST March 19, 2002 ORANGE CITY, Fla. -- A suspect in the robbery of a video store in Orange City was shot and killed Tuesday night. It happened at the Blockbuster store along Enterprise Road just before midnight, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported. The father of one of the employees was inside the store at the time and pulled his weapon during the robbery attempt, officials said. Police said the father opened fire, killing a 19-year-old suspect. A second suspect was injured in the gunfire. The dead suspect was also an employee...
If you do carry in a Blockbuster, your CCW permit doesn't apply.
If while in their store you are forced to fire in defense, you'll face prosecution, no matter what.
However as this case clearly shows, that might be the least of your worries.
Alabamais a Right-To-Carry state, if I were a relative of the deceased, & the deceased or any other employee had a CCW permit and store policy denied the right to carry while at work, I'd sue for certain. Blockbuster was clearly neglegent in providing a secure workplace, systems like bullet proof glass and security guards etc.
I guess that I just don't care.
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