“A 7-Eleven clerk in Frederick County is being hailed as a hero after he grabbed a rifle from an 18-year-old attempting to rob the store,” fox5dc.com reports. “The attempted robbery began just before 4 a.m. on July 12 when a suspect armed with a shotgun entered the 7-Eleven and approached the counter. He then threatened the store clerk, who pulled the weapon over the counter and out of the suspect’s hands.”
The cops arrested Ryan J. Wages and charge him with the armed robbery. Result! However . . .
If you grab a shotgun you run the very real risk of the bad guy shooting you off the end of the barrel. Which is also the recommended technique if a bad guy grabs your shotgun.
If you find yourself at the business end of a shotgun, twist the firearm as forcefully as possible as you attempt to secure it. Then attack the perp as viciously as possible. Long guns make pretty fearsome clubs.
Whatever you do, speed, surprise and violence of action is always your best bet. You may or may not get the opportunity to implement this strategy, but plan to do so.
Wow…props to the clerk but that could have been ugly.
Like cut in half ugly
Those two customers were as useless at teets on a boar. Lift your skirts and wet yourselves guys.
That’s what I was thinking. One good sucker punch to the ear would have surely made him let go of the shot gun.
My thought was grab that yellow hazard sign from the floor and whack him in the temple — even if he didn’t go down, he’d let go of the gun.
Those were two of our regular readers who say “I carry for me and my loved ones only”. “I am no Sheepdog”.
The end result to the truth does hurt. This incident is an example of “not my problem “.
Not my problem until the gun goes bang and the perp decides it’s better to not leave witnesses.
I carry for myself and my loved ones only
If I deem there’s no escape, if that was why the two didnt run to begin with, I wouldve gone all in in this case
There’s no guarantee a thug sticking you up would leave a breathing witness
The 2 were not selfish, they were DUMB
If 7-11 cares about their employees, they’ll issue them sidearms.
Not my circus, not my monkeys. I was trained 1) Escape 2) Seek cover 3) Fight. This helps assure that my wife gets to hug me again.
That’s why I prefer short barreled weapons for home defense. It’s lot harder for an attacker to get leverage on a 10.3″ SBR than a 22″ shotgun. This is especially true if you’ve got a VFG 3″ from the muzzle.
That’s why I keep my barrels well lubed and greasy. Love it when perp tries to grab my gun, flying backwards in surprise is quite humbling to them.
You love to imagine it, you mean.
…as he repeatedly strokes his barrels with oily rags…
Judging by that video, all you have to do is pull back and pull the trigger. How many people are going to hold onto a shotgun after it goes off even if you miss. Damn that was stupid on the clerk’s part
Violence of action took the robber by surprise, disrupted his OODA loop. The action may not have been well thought out before hand, but it was extremely effective. So effective, that the thug didn’t even shoot the clerk off the gun.
Stupid is as stupid does. If it works, it’s not stupid.
I loved this when I saw it on the news! I’m not sure I’d do that but…”the WAGES of sin is death”(Ha!). Anyone see the video of the Australian store clerk ignoring an armed robber with a big revolver? Who finally just left?
Clerk muzzled himself at least three times. The surprising thing here isn’t he disarmed the robber – the surprising thing is that he’s still alive.
Guess the 18yo would-be robber didn’t feel like killing anyone that day.
More likely he sold all his ammo to buy his last hit of meth and figured the shotgun would do for his next score, loaded or not.
Still, the clerk did not know if the gun was loaded or not. Pure luck he is not dead and the perp is not facing murder charges.
Wait, I thought gun grabbing was a bad thing:-\
Wow! Cringe fest. Lucky dude.
Lucky for the clerk that gun wasn’t loaded, or at least chambered. I doubt the 18 year old thug was too concerned with the 4 rules of firearms safety (booger hook – bang switch). Probably kept the chamber empty so he could rack it for the Hollywood effect.
I see the problem here. The shotgun is a defensive weapon. The robber was using it in an offensive manner. Which confused the shotgun and caused it to change sides.
Never confuse your shotgun.
Hahaha!
Maybe it was a Turkish shotgun pulling a coup.
The news report I read said that the gun was not loaded, which is the only reason that clerk didn’t meet his maker that day.
I dont think I wudda dun that Joe Bobb. Holy Krap with a capital K!
Couldn’t have been chambered, or he forgot to snick the safety off. Either way, that was ballsy and dumb on the clerk’s part , and he’s lucky he didn’t get a new window in his belly.
I like the shotgun for defense. Thing to remember, distance is your friend. Your other friend is a good sling. Your other friend is the mindset to pull the trigger.
Now on the other end of this, and you can grab the barrel, it’s a good idea to roll your body past the muzzle and use your body weight to pin the gun to the floor, or in the above case, against the counter. Continue rolling and draw your tactical pen and slam the point into the attacker’s temple, jugular, or eye socket. Draw pen out and continue stabbing in vital areas about the head and neck until you are sure the BG is no longer a threat. This may take a dozen or more jabs. If he is holding onto the gun then you should have a clear shot at him. If he lets go and isn’t wearing a sling then you now have his gun. Don’t assume he is now disarmed however. He may have a blade or handgun. Create distance and be prepared to use more lethal force as required.
He probably didn’t have his tactical pen at the ready. Being in 7-11, though, he had easy access to tactical BACON!
Best part is when one customer kicks at the perp as he is running out.
Kinda surprised the clerk did not end with 00 indigestion. Risky at best. Good think the perp was an (safety-minded) idiot.
I kept waiting for it to go off and blow his innards out his back. I wonder how he felt after he watched the video?
Interestingly, I once worked a homicide that involved a point-blank 12 ga blast to the chest.
No exit wound.
The victim’s insides were completely, and I do mean completely, destroyed. But no exist wound.
I bring it up to mention that actual terminal performance is largely an unknown. Lots of things can happen. Yeah, we play odds and statistics and what-not, but…results vary.
That’s true for all calibers across the spectrum. Experienced hunters know this. I wish more handgun-only folks that are ONLY “into” guns for EDC and SD would think about it more.
There is no “it will…” when it comes to gunshot wounds. At best it is “it may.”
JR, what type of shotshell was used? I’m guessing it was bird shot. Not buck.
I also notice you said it was a homicide. So, no exit wound, but it still ended someone’s life. So, if it was Bird shot, at in home distances, would you say birdshot is an effective option for home defense?
(Just trying to stir the hornets nest 🙂
I don’t think it was buckshot, but it may not have been as small as birdshot.
Yes, it was a homicide. No doubt the shot was quite effective (and sad…two friends got into about something and could not de-escalate). But it did not blow his insides out his back like we all imagine point blank shotgun blasts would do.
I think there are some good youtube vids up that cover various shotgun loads for self defense. There are definitely proponents of birdshot.
One problem with extending this case into other self defense scenarios is that “point blank.” That is, I think, where the bird shot model could break down…longer distances.
What works in one case may not work in another. At the end of the day, we rolls our dices and we takes our chances.
Sorry, to answer your first question more specifically, I don’t remember what kind of shotshell was used.
Wow. SO incredibly stupid on the part of the clerk. Just give him the $$ or wait for a better opportunity – he’ll get caught. The guys in the blue shirts were WORTHLESS. Way to man up fellas. At least once the clerk grabbed the gun you could’ve sucker-punched the guy. But no… give him a little love shove as he tries to run away.
Lucky clerk ! Just hand the guy the money. It’s insured anyway. Your life may not be….His company will probably fire him for a “no use of force clause ” in his companies policy. Other employers have done that or other things to armed defenders/ employees….
Do you know why they call armed robbery a “crime against person?”
Because it is not about the money.
Your odds of getting hurt or dead even if you cooperate are high enough that just handing over the money is giving a violent a-hole the choice of whether you live or die.
Lots of folks choose the moral position “better to die fighting than be slaughtered like a sheep.”
Your mileage may vary.
Shrug. I gave the money over to one mugger, resisted another. Every situation is different. But at any rate, no employer has the right to insist I let a guy shove a shotgun in my face.
That was the dumbest thing I’ve seen a grown man do today. It looked like the clerk was trying to commit “suicide by robber.”
Shame neither of those guys in blue had a concealed pistol. All they would’ve had to do is take a few steps back and they’d have been in the robber’s blind spot; they could’ve drawn on him without him noticing.
I was wondering when this would be posted here.
That was terrible. I mean damn it worked, but that was terrible.
I’m happy for the clerk though and I’m glad he is ok.
Wow. Clerk has balls, apparently took them off the guys in blue shirts.
I pray for oppurtunities like those 2 guys in the blue shirts had. I wouldve slept that thug with a suckerpunch from hell. Instead the older guy does a gay ass air kick s2 seconds after the punk was gone. I bet he is embarressed as hell to see that on the news
There was another store robbery less than a month ago in Fort Worth where the clerk was reportedly cooperating and obeying the robber, and still got shot and killed. It is not the first time that’s happened. Some robbers don’t want to leave witnesses or leave anyone standing to call the cops while they are still nearby:
http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/employee-fatally-shot-during-fort-worth-store-robbery/255954747
Maybe this 7-eleven guy who grabbed the shotgun decided he didn’t want to wait and find out what would happen after he opened the register.
I worked an armed robbery once where the robber did not even give the clerk a chance. He also fired randomly as he made his escape, and it was pretty much only luck he did not hit bystanders/witnesses.
To all those above saying “just give him the money,” you can never assume cooperating will save your life. Especially if they’ve already done time, there is no incentive to leaving witnesses alive.
I read about two years ago that the chances of injury or death after cooperating with street robber is about 50/50. Again, there is simply no incentive for them not to hurt you.
Finally, why should anyone be asked to leave the choice for their life to continue up to a violent thug? That simply makes no moral sense.
So, it’s not about “the money.” The minute someone sticks a gun or any other weapon in your face, or makes any violent demand whatsoever, it’s about a personal attack and your life is in imminent danger.
“So, it’s not about “the money.” The minute someone sticks a gun or any other weapon in your face, or makes any violent demand whatsoever, it’s about a personal attack and your life is in imminent danger.”
Good point. So, based on what we can see in the video, what should the clerk have done that would have been a better response to the robber?
“what should the clerk have done that would have been a better response to the robber?”
Ideally and playing 20/20 hindsight?
Perhaps that the clerk had his own firearm and could respond with it while the robber was distracted.
Or, that one (or both) of the bystanders was armed and ended it while the robber’s attention was on the clerk.
Or, if the clerk had to grab that gun that he was better able to control the muzzle than he did, but as stated above…hard to argue with results.
Or, that those two bystanders did anything to help the clerk.
Etc.
I was a convenience clerk back in the day. Those were good times. I think the worst it got was when you had a bunch of Latinos stumble in after work and speak in slurred Spanglish looking for more booze. Some of them could barely stand or even hold their wad of cash to pay for it. If my boss wouldn’t have instituted a limit of how much they could buy they would have just kept coming back for more. Case after case.
One thought:
Open the register and throw money on the counter. As the barbarian moves forward to grab it, THEN go for the gun, turning so it doesn’t aim at you.
Open the cash drawer and say “There you go, man.” Make the robber reach over the counter. Hit him in the head repeatedly with a 5# can of nacho “cheese.”
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