Oklahoma Bang!
Posted on 07/17/2002 5:50:50 AM PDT by cashion
MARIETTA -- Ronnie Norton said he never intended to kill the man who attempted to rob his jewelry store last week: All he was trying to do was keep from being killed.
When the gunman pointed a 9 mm pistol at his chest and ordered him face-down on the floor, Norton, 54, said Tuesday he was convinced he was about to die.
"From that point on, all I could think about was him shooting me in the back of the head," the jewelry store owner said. "I thought I was going to die, and I had to do something."
Norton for the first time spoke publicly Tuesday about last week's attempted armed robbery that ended in a shoot-out. He said he and his wife, Barbara, have slept little since then.
"I sleep about two hours and wake up and don't go back to sleep. My wife is the same way. She hardly wants to get out of the house. We keep the doors locked and are looking out the windows all the time."
One week ago, two armed men walked into Norton's Jewelry in downtown Marietta at the close of the business day. One gunman was killed.
The other gunman escaped with two accomplices who didn't enter the store and were waiting outside in a car. Police are still searching for them.
Authorities identified the slain man as Dexter B. Dunnum, 23, of Oklahoma City. Norton said he thinks Dunnum may have been casing the jewelry store the day before.
Norton said he became suspicious of a man and woman who asked to see the store's most expensive rope chain and rope bracelet. There were other customers in the store, and the couple left without buying anything, he said.
Norton said he shared his concerns with his wife later that night. The next day, the Nortons were preparing to close and were taking jewelry from the display cases when his wife spotted two men walking outside toward the store entrance, he said.
Being apprehensive, Norton said he quickly slipped a .32- caliber handgun from his carrying case and into his belt. In the store, Norton always carries a gun or keeps one within arm's reach, he said.
The two men were larger and appeared younger than Norton. They were dressed immaculately and identically, he said. They entered and one asked to look at a $2,500 wedding set.
"I know it's happening," Norton said.
Norton said he walked to the safe to get the jewelry as one man followed. Barbara Norton saw the man place his hand in his pocket and she ran to the door, he said.
The other gunman sprinted to intercept her and grabbed her before she could get outside, Norton said. She hung onto the door by wrapping her right leg around it, but the gunman was able to throw her to the floor, Norton said.
Norton said he was at the safe and turned to find a 9 mm pistol staring at his chest less than a foot away.
"It's cocked and ready to fire," he said.
The gunman ordered Norton to the floor but he refused, he said. The gunman repeated the order and waved the weapon in front of Norton, giving the jeweler a chance to grab the man's wrist and push the gun away, he said.
"Everything is a blur from the time that struggle started," Norton said.
During the fight for the gun, Dunnum was fatally wounded. He fell to the floor as his accomplice began firing at Norton.
Norton, thinking the wounded man was firing from the floor, said he shot him twice with his own handgun. Then realizing the second gunman was firing the shots, Norton said he took cover and traded fire with him.
Norton said he dived behind the jewelry counter and started rolling as the second gunman squatted and aimed with both hands on the gun.
The gunman fired twice but only put two bullets into the counter, Norton said.
Norton said he rolled to the other end of the counter as the gunman ran from the store.
Dunnum also fled but collapsed and died on the sidewalk in front of the store. Norton originally told police he killed the gunman with Norton's weapon.
It was later learned the fatal wound was caused by Dunnum's gun. Norton said he was shocked when police told him.
"I had it visualized I had pulled my own gun and done it," he said.
Dunnum had a criminal history, according to state Corrections Department records. He had been convicted of first-degree robbery, grand larceny and possession of stolen property.
Authorities think the same individuals may be involved in a similar jewelry store robbery June 23 in Altus.
Norton's Jewelry has been in Marietta since 1944. Norton took over the business from his father 18 years ago. It is the first time anyone attempted to rob the store, he said.
Friends are calling Norton a hero, but he credits his wife with distracting the robbers "long enough to allow me to do what I did. She pulled that other guy off me," he said.
Norton said he and his wife plan to reopen the store, but their lives have been changed forever. He said he is unsure whether he and his wife will ever feel completely safe again.
"We are always, I think, going to be alert and ready for something to happen."
Norton keeps a gun with him everywhere he goes and said he may start carrying two.
"I have it on me when I go to the shower. I will have it on me from now on. I don't ever see me not having that gun and being a little on edge."
Too easy. "Dexter Dummy was oppressed during his life by society, and was murdered by a profit hungry gun industry that put a gun in his hand. The same society that took pleasure in grinding him down encouraged him to act out, and made sure he would have access to the means of his own brutual execution."
Something like that.
Oklahoma Bang!
Had these store owners not acted as they did, I am sure that the story posted here would be "Couple Executed by Jewelry Store Bandits"
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