SFChron: Robber Killed By Victim, Reported as 'Tragic', Robber a 'Good Person'

NewsBusters.org ^ | 4/21/07 | Warner Todd Huston

[Mobile Vulgus]

One would think the writers of The Onion satirical newspaper snuck into the offices of The San Francisco Chronicle after reading a report about a Pizza shop owner who saved the lives of his family by killing a gun wielding robber that was attempting to rob his store, a store with the owner's whole family inside. The Chronicle calls the meeting of the thief and would be killer and the innocent Pizza shop owner "tragic" and the report is filed as if the whole story was all just some unfortunate accident instead of a crime stopped cold.

The lives of the two men intersected tragically at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday when Hicks, armed with a pistol and joined by two other men, tried to rob Piedra inside the popular pizzeria at 89th Avenue and International Boulevard. Fearful that the assailants might hurt him, his wife and three children -- all of whom were inside the restaurant -- Piedra pulled out his 9mm semiautomatic pistol and opened fire, killing Hicks, police said.

The Chronicle made the story as an excuse at a morality play revealing how friends are remembering the robber as one who "...always had a smile on his face", that the shop owner "took no satisfaction in taking Hicks' life", and the police "...by no stretch of the imagination" were they "agreeing with or justifying what the owner did." We are even treated to a telling of our "tragic" robber's happy little "rap artist" name; "Boonie".

Obviously the San Francisco Chronicle has decided that this story is going to be their platform to show how guns "traumatize" everyone when the real focus of the story should be on how a shop owner protected himself and his family inside the shop from an armed criminal.

This is no "tragic" incident, but a crime stopped by a man protecting his family!

But, the SFChron goes to great pains to show the remorse of the shop owner, Mr. Piedra, as well as reporting how everyone just loved the drug using, girlfriend beating, pseudo "rapper", Hicks, turning a righteous case of self-protection into a giant pity party for the criminal.

The Shop owner is reported as having remorse:

"I wish this never happened," Piedra said. "I don't want anybody, any business to be in this kind of situation, with anybody putting a gun in your face."

Why, exactly, would anyone imagine otherwise?

The police are seen as scolding the shop owner who was just protecting his family and property:

Piedra said his 17-year-old son, 19-month-old son and 13-year-old daughter were inside the restaurant at the time. Piedra said he was afraid that the assailants would shoot him or hurt his family, a contention supported by Oakland police who nevertheless cautioned against citizens taking direct action against criminals.

"There is definitely a balance," said Officer Roland Holmgren, department spokesman. "This thing had potential -- who knows where the suspects were going to take the situation? But by no stretch of the imagination are we agreeing with or justifying what the owner did."

Holmgren said, "We're not saying that we want citizens to go out there and arm themselves and take the law into their own hands. We want citizens to be good witnesses, to be good report-takers and to identify suspects."

And a neighbor of the shop owner is quixotically quoted in the story as being anti-gun:

Mohammed Ali, the manager of a market on the busy thoroughfare that has seen its share of robberies, had mixed feelings about business owners arming themselves. "Of course they have a right to protect themselves, but from what? If we have law enforcement, should (businesses) have guns? I don't think so. They're inviting trouble."

Again, WHY is this man's quote in the story? Ah, because the SFChron is anti-gun, that's why.

Then the SFChron goes into a long account about how everyone just loved the criminal, Hicks... sorry, "Boonie"... and how they are all going to miss him.

They even take time out to quote one of "Boonie's" friends found at a "makeshift memorial" to Hicks who is presented as a philosopher, rapper.

"He always had a smile on his face," said a 22-year-old man who identified himself as a rapper named Little Al. "He was a solid dude, loyal."

He didn't express any anger at the pizzeria owner for shooting his friend. "Life happens," he said. "I'm not upset, you feel me? You wouldn't want it to happen, but it happened. Ain't no telling why that shooting occurred."

Well, isn't that nice?

Even the girlfriend Hicks beat up is quoted as saying "despite the alleged abuse, Hicks was a 'good person.'"

This story was such an absurd warping of the proper message, that a crime was stopped and a family had their lives and property saved in accordance with the Constitution and all that is right. But, the SFChron used the story, instead, to moralize on how bad guns are and mourn the death of a criminal.

[RightOnline]

What on EARTH are those drooling idiots at the Chronicle smoking?????

[dragnet2]

What is wrong with California?

"Piedra pulled out his 9mm semiautomatic pistol and opened fire, killing Hicks, police said."

Bad guy is dead.

Looks like a good ending to me.

[kcvl]

Hicks was on probation for a marijuana conviction, and was facing battery charges when he died, police and court records show.

[gaijin]

You wouldn't want it to happen, but it happened. Ain't no telling why that shooting occurred."

Hey, I'll hazard a guess: BECAUSE HE CHOSE TO COMMIT ARMED ROBBERY.

How's THAT, to clear up those random, swirling forces of destiny?

IDIOT.

[TheBethsterNH]

Come on...the poor guy had a nasty habit to fund that he struggled with...LOL...BOOM, solves that problem.

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

"If we have law enforcement, should (businesses) have guns? I don't think so. They're inviting trouble."

WTF? Someone should explain to "Ali" what enforcement means. When someone is murdered the police will try to find the killer and arrest him.. thus 'enforcing' a law against murder. No cop can protect you from the the crime happening in the first place. You MUST defend yourself.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

“Holmgren said, “We’re not saying that we want citizens to go out there and arm themselves and take the law into their own hands. We want citizens to be good witnesses, to be good report-takers and to identify suspects.”

I have read in the past that SF has on of the LOWEST rates of SOLVED homicide cases in the nation, which makes the above statement even more moronic.

[Plutarch]

If we have law enforcement, should (businesses) have guns? I don't think so. They're inviting trouble."

I would think that trouble felt distinctly disinvited by the outcome of this incident.

[Duke Nukum]

If it ended there, it would be a good ending. But to quote the g/f of the bad guy saying, oh, he beat, yah, yah, yah, but he was a good person.

That is where the ending gets insane.

[Moonman62]

I think criminals should start robbing newspaper offices. They should be easy targets.

[Bullish]

What makes me sick is the bleeding heart liberals at the SF chron trying to drum up sympathy for an armed robbery perpetrator. It’s like they care more about the perp then the victims of violent crimes. All for the sake of an obvious gun control agenda.

[GBA]

Cops are in the clean up business and come around after the crime has been committed and a law has been broken.

They are not in the prevention business beyond telling people how to avoid crime.

They are also not crime stoppers unless the victim is fortunate enough to have a cop show up while a crime is being committed.

If you want to protect yourself and your family, you must hire someone or do it yourself. Laws that disarm law abiding citizens are biased against anyone who can't afford to buy personal protection.

[D-fendr]

Gee, a real loss to humankind:

“”One of the blows was so hard her head hit the wall and it put a hole in the wall,” Biletnikoff wrote. After she fell to the ground, Hicks kicked her in the stomach, she told police.”

[BikerJoe]

Isn’t this what we always hear from the mothers of the killed “yutes”: “He was a good boy, he never hurt no-one.”

[livius]

Let’s go further and say that self-defense is bad. The big problem with seeing this as a gun issue is that even if the store owner had just punched the thuglet and on the way down the thuglet had hit his head on the corner of the pizza mixer and died, the press and the police would be all over the pizzeria guy. You’re simply not supposed to fight back in today’s culture.

I was at a police event a couple of weeks ago (I have a family member on the force in a Western city) and the whole thing was about how respectful the officers were of the criminal class. That is, occasionally they had to “neutralize” one of them, but normally every effort had been made not to perturb “the gentleman” (aka, the thuglet). Of course, the mother of said thuglet immediately appears at the police station with the Reverend So-and-So in tow, as well as a cluster of press admirers, to scream about police brutality...

Things are crazy now.

[LukeL]

A yute?

What's a yute?

[Uncle Hal]

I live in the SF Bay Area. Unfortunately this is the way much of the area thinks about guns and the proper use of them. The SF Chronicle is about as bad as it gets when it comes to the MSM.

[dragnet2]

Bad guy dead, shot by armed citizen, other than that, I pay little attention to anything from liberal newspapers.

As a matter of fact, I have not read an actual newspaper or bought one in since 1996.

Liberals will always make comments in support of bad guys, many times coming to their aid when they are about to be executed. Nothing surprising here. That’s why I basically ignore them.

[rlmorel]

This story is infuriating on so many levels.

[Billthedrill]

"This thing had potential -- who knows where the suspects were going to take the situation?"

They'd already taken it there. If someone sticks a gun in your face he's threatening your life, not your property, and whining later that he was only after the latter is irrelevant and meaningless. This citizen was NOT "taking the law into his own hands," the law had been broken and its enforcers were nowhere in sight.

"Don't resist and you might be OK" is shatteringly stupid advice. In order to be a good witness one has to be alive.