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Clerk at Del’s 24 Hour shop shoots, kills would-be robber who grabbed child
Naples News ^ | 18 OCT 11 | By VICTORIA MACCHI

Posted on 10/19/2011 9:26:13 AM PDT by DCBryan1

EAST NAPLES — A clerk at a landmark East Naples corner store shot and killed a man Tuesday as he attempted to rob the family-run shop and flee with her 1-year-old daughter.

The man, whose name was not released, demanded money from Elizabeth Easterly, a clerk at Del’s 24 Hour Food Store, and then grabbed a stroller that held Easterly’s baby, said Del Ackerman, the store’s owner and Easterly’s grandfather.

Easterly, 22, was alone during a shift change, running the shop with her 1- and 2-year-old daughters there, Ackerman said.

“I almost lost my two babies,” Ackerman said of his great-granddaughters.

The children were unharmed. However, a bloodied stroller remained inside the front door for hours as investigators gathered evidence and interviewed witnesses at the scene.

Around 3 p.m. a man entered the store, 2802 Thomasson Dr., “acting erratically,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jamie Mosbach said.

As the man made for the front door with the child, Easterly did just as she had been taught — she drew a gun and aimed for the would-be robber’s knee, Ackerman said.

Bleeding, the man was then tackled outside the front door by a store employee who was about to start his shift and was walking toward the store when the shooting happened. A pool of blood and a bloodied pair of men’s athletic shoes marked where the man was held down until deputies arrived at the scene.

The man was transported to NCH Downtown Naples Hospital. He died from his injuries.

Deputies diverted traffic at the intersection of Thomasson and Bayshore drives for two hours following the shooting. Easterly could be seen inside the store as a swarm of patrol cars and investigators blocked off the scene. Both her husband and Ackermen had left the store less than half an hour before the attempted robbery.

Across the street, Nik Merlos and Gloria Angeles huddled under a bus awning with their 14-month-old daughter as deputies took down crime scene tape. Angeles had made a quick trip to Del’s around 2 p.m.

“I knew there were creepy people around, but not that bad,” said Merlos, who has lived in the Bayshore area for seven years.

In September 2009, three masked men pistol whipped a clerk at Del’s, robbed her at gunpoint, and then stole her car. It was a blemish in nearly half a century of serving the community that didn’t stop Ackerman from opening the doors again.

“They’ve tried to clean (the neighborhood) up a lot,” said Shannon Marcum, who lives two blocks from Del’s and grew up in the neighborhood. “They’ve succeeded somewhat.”

Three hours after the shooting, Ackerman questioned whether he would bounce back. Though his granddaughter and great-grandchildren were unharmed, the threat frazzled him.

“Under these circumstances? I would consider (closing),” he said. “I’d rather have life than money.”

Known as a neighborhood stalwart, he has kept the shop open 24 hours a day for 47 years, through hurricanes and families tragedies.

But with a dozen employees working to keep the store open round the clock, too many people would be affected by shutting the doors, he decided.

As hard as we’ve worked in this town ... are we going to let one person of any kind knock my family and my babies out?” Ackerman said. “No way.”

The Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation. It is unclear if Easterly could face criminal charges in the shooting.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: amish; banglist; ccw; chickswithguns; ericholderspeople; florida; goodshoot; gunssavelives; holderspeople; keepingitrealyo; naples; selfdefense
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To: DCBryan1

One less piece of human (more than likely sub-human) debris walking around this earth thanks to an armed civilian.

This saved the taxpayers a few hundred thousand dollars at least in courtroom shenanigans and hopefully deprived a scumbag lawyer of a few hundred billable hours.


41 posted on 10/19/2011 9:50:13 AM PDT by Wurlitzer (Welcome to the new USSA (United Socialist States of Amerika))
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To: momtothree

See #37 as well...


42 posted on 10/19/2011 9:50:20 AM PDT by null and void (Day 1001 of America's holiday from reality...)
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To: USS Alaska

LOL! Nutz.


43 posted on 10/19/2011 9:51:08 AM PDT by POWERSBOOTHEFAN (Straight and proud.)
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To: Second Amendment First
That said, why was she taught to aim for the knee?

The perp was carrying a kidnap victim.

I SPECULATE that she may possibly have received training which hypothetically suggested that in such a case, the defending citizen should shoot the perp in the legs to avoid injuring the kidnap victim.

44 posted on 10/19/2011 9:51:10 AM PDT by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: DCBryan1
I train them to maintain security, reload, and then dial 911 and don't touch the damn blood. If it was a good shoot, you don't have to do much after "BANG" other than tell the cops you were in fear for your life, and you want any statements made in your lawyers office.

Absolute best advice and I remind my loved ones about it periodically.

45 posted on 10/19/2011 9:52:41 AM PDT by Second Amendment First ("Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not..." - Thomas Jefferson.)
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To: null and void

Yes... I don’t know if the “I tried to wing him” defense would be so good... a lawyer could really twist that. However, if she said that he was holding the baby in the stroller (around his chest area) then striking him below that point would make sense.


46 posted on 10/19/2011 9:53:53 AM PDT by momtothree
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To: Celerity
Died from a knee injury ?

Exsanguination. Thank God, no one thought to apply a tourniquet.

47 posted on 10/19/2011 9:56:16 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Ceterum autem censeo, Obama delenda est.)
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To: SES1066

I never thought of that. It could be she pulled the gun, the guy got scared and picked up the stroler and ran with it and the knee was the safest for the kid.


48 posted on 10/19/2011 9:56:22 AM PDT by eastforker
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To: Ramius

rule # 1 after a shooting:

do NOT talk to police or reporters unless/until you’ve talked to your lawyer and said lawyer is WITH you.

otherwise, you make excited and STUPID statements like this that can/will be used in court of law against you.


49 posted on 10/19/2011 9:56:41 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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To: ArrogantBustard

I think she was taught to *say* she was aiming for the knee.

“Hit him in the chest? Darn, I was only aiming for his knee.”


50 posted on 10/19/2011 9:56:52 AM PDT by Royal Wulff
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To: Westbrook
Too bad Thank God they didn’t apply a tourniquet.
51 posted on 10/19/2011 9:57:58 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Ceterum autem censeo, Obama delenda est.)
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To: ArrogantBustard

That makes sense. She could not shot the center of mass without risking her own child.


52 posted on 10/19/2011 10:00:06 AM PDT by bvw
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To: Second Amendment First

lol! “No dear, you have to aim lower, the rounds are still going above the berm. Aim for his knees and see what happens...”


53 posted on 10/19/2011 10:01:21 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly posting without reading the article carefully since 2004)
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To: WOBBLY BOB

Noting the type of stroller in the picture he might have picked up the stroller to run with it out the door. I used to pick up that type of stroller and carry it through some types of doors and passageways and it is a lot faster than pushing it. If that were the case, shooting center mass might have hit the child. Whatever the case, she hit what she aimed at, brought him down and he bled out with no harm to the child. A happy ending.


54 posted on 10/19/2011 10:01:47 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: eastforker

It doesn’t matter if a kidnapper is armed.


55 posted on 10/19/2011 10:03:48 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: Lonesome in Massachussets

LOL. one thing most of us here can agree with.


56 posted on 10/19/2011 10:04:40 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB (See ya later, debt inflator ! Gone in 4 (2012))
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To: All

thank God the babies are safe...


57 posted on 10/19/2011 10:05:28 AM PDT by Maverick68
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To: DCBryan1; bang_list
UPDATE:

1) NO CHARGES! Justified under stand your ground FL statute. Suspect used illegal force of violence "kidnapping" and forfeited his life.

2) Elizabeth shot him with a .45 hornady critical defense JHP 210gr. which exploded in his knee and hit an artery and bled out.

3) Say good night to the bad guy!!

4) It was ALL caught on tape, full color, hi-res, digital.

58 posted on 10/19/2011 10:05:28 AM PDT by DCBryan1 ("Forget the Lawyers! FIRST YOU MUST kill the journalists!" - Die Ritter, die sagen, "nee"!)
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To: Second Amendment First
It's quite possible that Mr. Ackerman is pretty savvy.......and say's that. But doesn't teach that.

I could see the logic in that...........

59 posted on 10/19/2011 10:07:46 AM PDT by Osage Orange (Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum)
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To: Celerity
she drew a gun and aimed for the would-be robber’s knee,

I'm guessing it was a high caliber weapon to make a knee shot fatal. Anyway, I applaud the mama for great gun control.

60 posted on 10/19/2011 10:08:51 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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