Samuel Smith was hanging out about 9:00 last night, sitting on his friend’s stoop in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania when two suspicious passers by . . . passed by. Spidey senses a-tingling, Sam decided it was time to, you know, load his gun. “As the two men walked by, Smith had an uneasy feeling and loaded a magazine into his gun and reholstered the weapon.” Sam must be living right because he got what most crime victims don’t – a little advance warning. Give him props for situational awareness, though. But he may want to consider running out and buying a lottery ticket soon because despite an even bigger mistake he was about to make than walking around with an empty gun, fortune seems to be smiling on him these days . . .

The two shady dudes soon circled back and asked to bum cigarette. But it quickly became apparent that they had no interest in a smoke when one of them pressed a gun against his belly.

“He said, ‘Give me your (expletive) in your pockets,’ and shoved a gun in my stomach,” Smith said. “I took both my hands, one went on my wallet and the other I reached behind and put on my gun.”

Smith, a security guard who has a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm, said the black male swatted his hand away from his wallet. When he did, Smith extended his other hand grasping his gun and fired a round in the ground.

“They ran away, the black kid ran toward Little Flower Manor, and the white kid ran the other way stripping off his clothes,” Smith said.

If the account of what went down is accurate – always an iffy proposition – it’s hard to reconcile the thought process that led Sam to fire a warning shot at the ground rather than putting one into the guy who had a pistol pointed at some of his vital organs. Nevertheless, we couldn’t be happier that – despite all odds and logic – the whole hot mess somehow worked out with no loss of bodily fluids.

Oh and Sam, next time a newspaper photographer asks you to hold your gun like that for a picture, tell him where he can stick it.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

39 COMMENTS

  4. If he lived in the wrong city he’d be robbed and possibly dead right now. Think about that if presented with an opportunity to relocate into a gun free zone.

  8. what the hells going on here…..does everybody have to spill their guts to the press? for 15 min in the limelight?? what ever happened to STFU ??

    • Seeing how he used a Sigma there is no telling. You could miss with one of those at point blank range.

  11. Hmm…. The bad guy pushed a gun into his gut and demands his cash. Mr. Smith grabs for his wallet and his gun and the bad guy pushes Mr. Smith’s hand away from his wallet, not away from his holstered gun? And some how with a gun pressed against his belly Mr. Smith draws his gun and fires and doesn’t get shot by the guy who’s pressing a gun into his gut?

    Sorry, but this one sounds more like two guys in their early 20’s are hanging out, drinking beer and fooling around with a hand gun. One of the guys accidentally shoots off around and then makes up a story about a thieving back guy so he doesn’t get busted for firing his gun.

  13. “Sorry, but this one sounds more like two guys in their early 20′s are hanging out, drinking beer and fooling around with a hand gun. One of the guys accidentally shoots off around and then makes up a story about a thieving back guy so he doesn’t get busted for firing his gun.”

    agreed

  15. What’s up with all the Sigma-hate? It’s simply the “Chevy Aveo” of guns for S&W… It works, it fires projectiles into targets (in this case the ground).

    • I was wondering about the Sigma haters too. I’m a Sigma owner, and no, I don’t attend SigmAnonymous. So far about 2200 rounds fired over 2.5 years, with zero failures of any kind. It’s been a good gun.

      I guess some folks just have a need to hate something, and to make sure everyone knows it. Whatever.

      • Ditto. I also have a Sigma, have practiced with it a pretty fair amount and have been impressed with how accurate it can be once I settle in. I own and have access to other firearms that I like much better, and I would not try +p+ ammo in it, but I don’t think the Sigma is anything to be embarrassed about.

    • I was wondering why no one else asked that. I’m also having a hard time with this story.

      To give him some benefit of doubt, I do know that intense moments can do odd things to memory and accounts, especially being on the wrong side of a gun (as I once was).

    • Odd, but that is the one part that sounds believable, although I don’t buy the story so it goes the window with it. Why does a fleeing perp disrobing as he runs away sound credible? Because it happens everyday. In fact it is probably happening as I type these words. The perp is thinking ‘Ditch the black hoodie. They won’t know it’s me in the black tee-shirt.’

  18. Can’t anyone use a gun to defend themselves without TTAG being hyper critical?

    Maybe the gun was unloaded for a reason. There could be any number of reasons. Maybe he isn’t in the habit of carrying a weapon and was coming back from the range or a gunsmith. Who knows?

    And why does anyone assume the shot into the ground was intentional? It’s not too hard to miss when someone is shoving you and your hands around.

    This place is called The Truth About Guns, but it should be called Hypercritical Of Gun Owners.

  20. “Smith had an uneasy feeling and loaded a magazine into his gun and reholstered the weapon.”

    I missed the part where he chambered a round.

  21. From what was stated, Smith had his pistol out while on his friend’s stoop with no magazine, loaded a magazine, then holstered it. This is an obvious violation of PA concealed firearm law. Whatever the truth of Smith’s provided description of the two guys bit, he left out the obvious: I’ve never met a CC person, ever, nor read of one, who carries a semi-auto with no magazine inserted. Never. It seems clear he was showing his friend his pistol outdoors, on a stoop. So explain to me how two guys walking by didn’t notice Smith’s gun handling. [I am so sick of people using handguns as ‘show-and-tell’ items. Doing so out on the front stoop is beyond absurd. Having what appears to be a ND while on the front stoop is just remarkable.]

      • There’s more. It turns out he was not sitting on a ‘stoop,’ but rather on the curb, according to local Wilkes-Barre reports. As to the ‘stoop as curtilage’ issue: Our PA castle doctrine includes front steps and walk, as well as patios. However, the firing of the shot did not take place on the front steps. We can debate whether a concealed carry (what he was doing) permits open loading in plain sight of the public. Without cases, I vote for “avoid it whenever possible, because it is probably not OK.” Unloading and loading in a motor vehicle is a different issue.

  22. Obviously his mind wasn’t right and he’s very lucky indeed. Still, some of us are slow learners and have been lucky to live and learn. Nice of him not to shoot the bad guy but I think he needs to re-evaluate his career choices and maybe carrying a weapon altogether.

  23. So puzzling. Smith’s apprehensive about the two guys, so he locks a magazine into the pistol, in public view. The guys turn back toward him, though. “But wait, there’s more!” One of the guys subsequently gets close enough to put a gun to Smith’s belly? Where did the apprehension go which so motivate Smith? Smith’s story doesn’t pass the smell test. Smith’s another enemy of CCW, struggling to turn public opinion against it through his carelessness.

  25. I imagine there are Jews able to tell grand stories. Believable, intriguing…wonderful to savor whether via the medium of print, film or word. Zimmerman fails on all counts.

    Boots and “over” boots, gas mask and Jasmine…reading this is like stepping in dog crap at the park. This “story” is a “stinker.”

    Shame on you Zimmerman for insulting your gentile readers!

Comments are closed.