A store owner shot a robber who held a knife to his wife. The 2004 total was second to the city's 60 killings in '95.
Posted on 01/01/2005 5:49:00 AM PST by rudy45
A store owner shot a robber who held a knife to his wife. The 2004 total was second to the city's 60 killings in '95.
Inquirer Staff Writer
Hours before one of the most violent years ever in Camden came to a close yesterday, a store owner shot and killed a knife-wielding assailant, the city's 54th homicide of 2004.
A man walked into Camden City Wireless & Fishing Supply at 27th Street and Westfield Avenue around 12:30 p.m., grabbed the owner's wife, and held a knife to her, saying he intended to rob the store, police said.
The owner, in his 30s, pulled a handgun and told the robber to drop the knife. When the robber refused, the owner fired one shot, striking the assailant in the head, authorities said.
No one else was in the store.
The robber was declared dead at the scene. His name was withheld until police could notify his relatives. He was described as a 32-year-old whose last known address was in Philadelphia.
The identities of the store owner and his wife also were withheld while police investigated. The couple were speaking with detectives last night. Their store was closed.
No charges were filed yesterday. Authorities said that the gun was properly registered, and that the owner was permitted to have it at the store.
Even if no charges are filed, the death is considered a homicide. Included in the 54 in 2004 were four people killed by police officers.
The year was second only to 1995, when the city recorded 60 killings.
Sounds like suicide to me.
Good shooting ma'am.
One shot to the head, one dead robber.
Now THAT's my idea of good gun control.
Why is it misleading? You kill a person, it's homicide. That's the definition.
D'oh! Good shooting sir!
Techically, it's a justifiable homicide.
But I think we know what the agenda of the writer is .................
I wonder if the wife knew the head shot was coming, and whether she had full confidence in her husband. If so, I can imagine her leaning her head carefully in one direction, and winking at her husband for the "go ahead".
Glad it turned out okay.
I agree, "homicide" is fraught with the inference of "unlawful homicide" i.e., murder. Better maybe, "pesticide", or "self defense with extreme prejudice".
There's a lot of information that is missing. For example, was the store owner REALLY aiming at the head? Or, was he aiming at center mass, but missed but ended up hitting the head?
I'm thinking the former, because (correct me if I'm wrong) judging from my own experience at the range (not in real life thankfully), people tend to miss "low" rather than miss "high" (?)
'Definition' in which dictionary? What of murder and manslughter? These have 'technical' legalistic definitions and the use of homicide is hyperbolic and misleadingly precise. It is typical anti-gun hysteria.
You are sounding like those who complained over the word niggardly.
Webster's unabridged. Homicide: "the killing of one human being by another." Latin roots, Homo- (man) and -cide (kill).
I think "manslughter" would be when a man slugs his daughter? Or maybe the opposite, daughter slugs man.
Nice shot man. too bad you cant take the rack have it stuffed and place it over the front door as a warning to other thieves.
Well fsuck you. Niggardly has fine Northern European roots and I use it when appropriate. As in referring to your evident niggardly education and up-bringing.
Its Camden. I'm surprised it wasn't 54 homocides since this start of 2005!
If we can't use "homicide," what word would you suggest we use to mean "one person kills another person"?
You are correct niggardly is a perfeclty inoffensive word but some ignorant folk think those who use it are saying something else. Much like your hystrionics over the word homicide which was used correctly in this story.
What the f is a "wireless & fishing supply"? Cell phones and bait shop? Anyone?
Radios and worms?
I live right next door to Camden (c-wood, NJ). I'm gonna drive by there tomorrow and report (not today, sorry, there's still some champagne left).
I'll be interested to know! Maybe each of the owners runs a separate section. I remember a piano and knife store in a shopping center near my parents' house, years ago.
Yep. I can recall an auto parts store that had some extra space - the owner put in some clothing racks. Auto parts and clothing. Can't make this stuff up. Went under.
:-). So did "Keyboard and Knife," before I graduated and moved away!
Frontier justice is so effecient.
Might stop by some day to add a few minutes onto my verizon phone, and get some bait.
Thanks for the scouting mission ... My mind's at rest now :-).
I am not suprised at the inaccuracy of the headline, considering the source, since the Inquirer like all Philly papers, politicians, and conditioned groupthink is totally anti self defense. I happen to live just outside the darn city, and am waiting for Mayor Street (a part of the $95K unpaid gas bill fame from a failed diner deal, as well as part of the Uptown Theater debacle) to begin putting up the "Philadelphia Wall" complete with "Checkpoint Street" etc.
Actually, the correct term would be "Justifiable Homicide", or better yet " Self Defense". I do like the head shot, neat, clean, and final. No trial needed, and one less scumbag on the street. This is the way things should always work out! WELL DONE to the store owner...
Keep the Faith for Freedom
Greg
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