Jun 13, 2008 10:45 am US/Eastern
Store Owner Speaks About Shooting Would-Be Robber
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Reporting
Ron Matz
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
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A would-be robber is shot three times by a store owner he was trying to rob in Charles Village.
Expecting he would strike again, a Baltimore dry clean shop owner vowed not to be a victim again.
Gigi Barnett reports that shop owner was armed in case the suspect came back. Now, he is speaking out about opening fire on the would-be robber at his Charles Village shop.
The shop owner spoke with
Eyewitness News despite being clearly shaken by what happened Wednesday afternoon.
He says he struggled over the gun with the attempted robber and then shot him because he had no other choice.
"I wish it didn't come to that. I want him to know that I'm sorry that it came to this," said the owner of St. Paul's Cleaners.
He says this was the fourth time the same man tried to rob him just in the last two years. The third time, he thought he was going to die.
He said it wasn't vigilante justice when he pulled out his gun Wednesday afternoon; it was life or death.
"It wasn't a money issue. It was a matter of survival when somebody has a knife on you, and I'm actually sorry that it happened. I really am. You know I actually feel for the guy. If I could ask him something I would ask him why. Why did it have to come to this," said the shop owner.
The business owner says after he shot the suspect, the man collapsed right on the sidewalk from his injuries. Then the business owner collapsed himself out of shock.
"I really thought my life was in danger as soon as I saw him. I knew who it was since it was the fourth time he was in," said the shop owner. "He had my hand at the wrist, and we were both going for the gun for what seemed like a few minutes. And I said and we were yelling, I said 'get the 'F' out of here and I won't shoot you again.'"
The suspect is expected to survive. The owner says he's happy about that because he didn't want to kill him.
"What bothers me is when people say 'I'm glad you got him.' Because I'm not. I'm not proud," he said.
He does say he feels he and his family are safer.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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