Posted on 05/09/2009 5:36:40 AM PDT by marktwain
A citizen with a “concealed-carry” handgun license shot out a tire on a car full of fleeing shoplifters, then followed them in his own vehicle Wednesday morning, helping Azle police apprehend four people who were subsequently charged with robbery.
Police officers from at least three agencies caught up with everyone in a neighborhood behind Allsup’s convenience store off Highway 199 west of Azle.
Four accused shoplifters had been spotted by employees of Albertsons grocery store and were attempting a getaway with less than $50 worth of miscellaneous items when they were spotted by a citizen in the parking lot. The citizen was carrying a properly licensed concealed weapon, Azle police chief Steve Myers said Wednesday afternoon.
The fleeing driver seemed to be headed straight for the citizen, who fired at the vehicle, striking a front tire.
Another citizen called 911 and reported “an undercover officer shooting at someone who tried to run him down,” Myers said.
That “undercover officer”, it was later discovered, was the armed citizen, Myers said. Both the caller and the “shooter” remained unidentified by police in the interest of their safety.
However, the man with the handgun got in a pickup and followed the suspect vehicle, which could no longer be driven by the time it arrived in the neighborhood, Myers said.
“I guess they thought they could turn off the highway and get lost out in the county,” he said.
However, that area is made up of just a few interconnected streets, with no other way out besides the highway, he said.
Arrested were Michael Reiser, 38, of San Angelo; Kyle Scott, 21 of Fort Worth; Jennifer Jeffrey, 35, of San Angelo; and Tami Mickey, 32, of Fort Worth.
Three of the four were apprehended at the vehicle by Azle police in the 400 block of Oakwood Street. Reiser, the driver, was caught by Azle officer Chris Negrete and a DPS trooper about 30 minutes later in the 1600 block of Willowwood Drive.
Both are off of Pearson Lane, north of the highway.
The four reportedly discarded the shoplifted items as they drove from the scene.
They will be charged with robbery, a felony, instead of shoplifting, a misdemeanor, because the car was used as a deadly weapon in their escape, Myers said.
Albertson’s is in Tarrant County, so charges will be filed with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office even though the suspects were caught in Parker County. Azle police, Parker County Sheriff’s deputies and at least two Department of Public Safety troopers helped in the chase, Myers said.
The chief has mixed feelings about the help officers received from an armed citizen.
“Our concern in a situation like that is the number of people in the immediate vicinity of an individual who don’t have a way to know who or what he is,” Myers said.
“A uniformed officer is easily identifiable. But the public doesn’t know who (a citizen with a handgun) is, or how to help.”
On the other hand, this particular citizen did choose the most restrained use of his weapon, firing only at the tires of the vehicle and ultimately helping catch a car full of suspects.
Pulling a Clint Eastwood on shoplifters isn’t a real smart move.
Then the chief is not a chief, but a plebe.
This time it worked. Next time, maybe not.
On the contrary. Maybe those four will think twice about robbery when they get out of jail and consider that private citizens in this country are often armed.
Meanwhile, the Chief should be happy he got the help and stop whinning.
Per the article, he fired when they tried to run him down with the car.
Shot out a tire...man, I thought that only worked in the movies. Good on him!
From a different story about the incident.
Four "adults" and they don't have enough cash to buy Pop Tarts and Q-Tips?
So I wonder, if he just fired at their tires if they didn't try to run him down, would he have committed a crime?
Every American citizen had better realize where we as a nation are. No government, state or federal can protect anyone. It's time for Americans to take control of their own lives and do the right thing to stop all crime. That would include crimes by any government entity.
But from your a post from MExico, it needs to come back around to citizens defending each other. In Mexico City, no one is armed, some police don’t even bear arms, and crime and resisting criminals...is hardly known.
Bullets sometimes do funny things once they've left the barrel.
Texas law states that if you are in fear of your life, you are justified in using deadly force. If this car was trying to run him down, he could have shot the driver. But everytime you discharge your weapon, you will come under law enforcement scrutiny, so you have to take that decision very seriously. Conceal carry is for that purpose.
That just means we will be able to drive a little faster on the freeway........
I’m happy about the outcome but from what I know as an armed citizen, by law, you can only use deadly force until the threat is stopped if your life is threatened. So shooting at the driver during the confrontation is justified in this case but shooting out the tires of a fleeing vehicle is outside that definition.
Again, I’m glad the perps were arrested but at the same time I fear the liberal government will use cases like this as justification to further restrict our rights.
Exnavy, Michigan is the canary in the coal mine for what’s happening in this country.
I wouldn’t have done it with my little .380 that’s for sure. Could have ricocheted off the rim and killed some bystander. I’d say the guy should get a B in headwork as the navy saying goes.
This could have turned out badly for the shooter if someone in the vehicle would have been shot or killed.
This could have been a black eye in the news media for responsible CCW permit holders.
Excellent point.
A parking lot full of shoppers and all it takes is a ricochet or a bullet fragment to hit one of those citizens and the shooter would find himself at the gray bar hotel.
I thin crime is getting more risky by the day. I live in a neighborhood filled with retired military, active duty military, deputy sheriffs and police officers. Just by talking with a lot of my neighbors, I suspect there are approximately 3-4 guns per resident in the neighborhood. Not a good place to practice crime.
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