http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_qBFTG3PmI&feature=player_embedded

You work in a big city gas station. It’s 3:30 a.m. Three guys try to get into your now-closed store. An argument ensues. You get into it with them through the locked door. Your options are to 1) firmly tell the would-be customer the store is closed and walk away, 2) call the police if they persist and refuse to leave or 3) open the door and continue the shouting match face-to-face. No, this isn’t an IQ test. But it might as well be . . .

As you can see from the news report (above), the clerk in question asked Monte for what’s behind door number three. When the agitated dood in the red hat cold-cocked him, the clerk drew a gun and plugged Mr. Red Hat in the gut.

From khou.com:

“I’m just hurt,” said Allexander Calloway.  “He didn’t have to shoot my son.  He didn’t have to shoot my son.”

The store owner, who has stood by his employee’s right to defend himself, said the clerk no longer has a job.

“For the sake of the community, we feel very strongly that he won’t be coming back to work,” said George Hlaiheo.

Now we have the requisite “community activist” in the $75 suit marching for the cameras with ten or twelve other locals doing everything they can to whip the situation up into the  next Trayvon circus. And all the clerk (who’d been shot in a previous robbery attempt) had to do was keep the damned door closed.

So we’ll be sending him a memento of the evening to keep in a cherished spot. We’re guessing he won’t want to list the honor on his resume, but we’ll be happy to give him a reference if he needs one.

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57 COMMENTS

    • That’s because the punch was little more than a slap. But, like the manly gun owner he was, he didn’t have to take it. That’s what being armed is all about. You can be a real man, you don’t have to be afraid to open the door to an angry customer, and if he slaps you in the face a little bit, you can shoot his ass.

      • I see why you’re not allowed to own a gun mikey. Tried to replace important pieces of your anatomy with a gun and it didn’t work out for you.

        You were one of the less than 1% of gun owners that couldn’t handle the responsibility and now you’re jealous of those 99% of us that were adult enough to handle it. Sad to be mikey.

        • You wish it was 1% vs. 99%. If that were the case I wouldn’t have anything to blog about. But, not that you’d know it because you stick to the echo chamber, I post several stories every single day about unfit “lawful” gun owners who go bad. And something tells me I’m not catching all of them by a long shot.

        • Several stories, is that like 2-3, every day. Out of millions of gun owners. At the very least a 100 million owners.

          You just proved my point Mikey.

          • Your point might have been proven if I’d claimed that my stories were comprehensive and encompassed all the stories out there. The fact is, mine are only the tip of the iceberg.

        • Like any talking head, methinks Mike is committed to his own rhetoric regardless of the facts. JWM is indeed wrong, but it ain’t in your favor.

          Let’s use the absolute minimum number of gun owning adults in the US – that’s 70 million. Now, let’s pretend that every single negligent or criminal discharge represents one individual that you’ve described above (and that’s being generous to you since the average murderer has more than one victim) – that’s 70,000 shootings per year. Again, that takes every accidental or criminal shooting into account, but not legal intervention or suicide. That means at best the ratio is 99.9 to .1.

          Again, based on the most generous numbers I can give you (and they’re probably far more skewed in our favor) there is one bad gun owner for every 999 gooduns.

          Does this mean you’re gonna give up your blog?

      • Well mister Miley. ( I’m not gunna fix the autocorrect either) when I have an argument I always do my best to show both sides of the story and give both sides benefit of doubt…

  3. He didn’t have to open the door. He didn’t have to shoot him. And the young man didn’t need to punch him either.

    • Wrong to open the door? No smart, but not wrong, as in illegal.

      Punching somebody is a definite wrong, like in illegal.

  6. Same comment I made about Martin and Zimmerman. There was a whole lot of stupid let loose from both parties, in both instances.

    • Yep

      Being a member of a Neighborhood watch program is stupid.

      Not being a member of a group with rules gives me a lot more freedom to keep a watch on my neighborhood.

  7. Hmmm. It looks like there were other customers in the store who may need to have been let out (the tall black man in the store behind the clerk).

    With that being said, it looks like a dirty shoot. The man being punched and his assailant are roughly the same size. It’ll be interesting to see what other details emerge. When packing, de-escalation is the name of the game.

  8. Opening the door to discuss the situation is not confrontational. Sometimes being face to face helps de-escalate. He had no reason to think that he was going to be assaulted.

    Who knows what a jury would say, but I would say that if you decide to punch someone in the face, you should expect to die. If more people had that expectation, fewer people would get punched. We have a moral responsibility to protect those that would be punched by killing those that do the unprovoked punching.

    I’m proud this happened in Texas.

    • +1

      If it’s not mutual combat agreed upon beforehand then it’s battery.

      What do you think people mean when they say an “armed society is a polite society?”

      How do you expect anyone to know you’re armed and to avoid punching you in the face if you don’t open carry, by the way?

      Don’t punch random strangers in the face for no good reason and you won’t get shot. Pretty simple concept.

    • Not sure I would buy that argument about opening the door being non-confrontational – if they were already arguing through the door. Regardless, still seems dumb that the guy opened up the door at all.

      Punch someone in the face – expect to die. Really? Certainly that is a risk. But I don’t know that that particular act always deserves the equivalent of the death penalty.

      • If you’re so violent as to punch a stranger in the face, there is no telling what you will next escalate to. There is no need for anyone to put themselves in further jeopardy by waiting to find out. Punch someone in the space and you should expect a 1911 in .45ACP to be discharged in your chest, as appears to be the case here. And the law in every state allows it so far as I know. I think even in a state with a duty to retreat the man would still be in his rights to defend himself from an immediate threat such as this.

        • That punch did not look like part of a serious attack. It was more of an exclamation point to whatever he was yelling. It wasn’t even that hard and it wasn’t followed by another punch or any aggressive move.

          The shooter should be guilty of attempted murder. Gun owners need to exercise better restraint than that.

  9. You guys need to take a look at the rest of the story. There were 2 more men outside the door and BOTH of them were armed. The guy took the shot because he knew they were about to jump him and rob the store as the next step. Oh, and the puncher was probably armed too, but ditched his gun before he got to the hospital.

    Now I agree he shouldn’t have opened the door, but I don’t think that rises to the level of an IGOTD trophy. The 2 workers were probably about to leave the store and go home and he thought he could get the guys to leave on his own without needing the cops. The actual shooting is gonna go down as legit self-defense.

    Also, the store manager backed this employee, but now has fired him cause the community organizer thugs have been threatening the gas station and he fears another attack. So how about we blame the thugs who wanted to rob the gas station instead of the clerk?

    FLAME DELETED

    • +1 on the last paragraph. This is part of what frustrates me about this blog. Lots of good stuff, but at a fundamental level, Farrago and his associates are uncomfortable with the concept of being a free man and using weapons to demonstrate self-defense.

  10. Right after the thug throws the punch he takes a step back and puts a look on his face as if to say, “what are you going to do about that.” I guess he found out.

    One less thug in Houston. Instead of protests, we should have cheers. **Edit — on second viewing, it seems the thug isn’t even dead, but in critical condition. What a shame.

  11. FCMatt, nail on head. The article willfully ignored the statement about the two armed honeys- a lie of omission. I would suspect PC motivations as well. Similar to how the rest of the media ignores flash mob reports (“youths”, always) and the increasing incident of Knockout and Polar Bear in urban and suburban settings. Read the book _White Girl Bleed A Lot_ for a dose of non-PC adulterated reality.
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1479299022

    FLAME DELETED

  13. I’m calling B.S. He had every right to be anywhere inside or outside of his store, and the thug chose to assault him, resulting in him being shot in self defense. He didn’t open the door with his gun drawn. He could have been outside smoking or sweeping the parking lot and the same crowd would be crying that he had no business being outside at 3:3o A.M.

    • What would a 911 call accomplish? Most metro police departments won’t respond immediately to currently nonviolent incidents. One recent report linked from this site described Detroit police responding to a very similar incident (sans shooting- armed clerk didn’t fire but was beaten) with a 19 hour delay. They respond only to murders and fatal accidents, never to loitering or simple robberies. What happened to “when seconds count, police are minutes away”.?

      FLAME DELETED- sure, your saloon, your rules. Still disappointing that the truth can’t be presented without a PC spin. Guess tikkun olam means a few nonessential civilians can get hurt for the greater good.

  15. I feel like “Questionable DGU of the Day” may be a more fitting title.

    Like always, we weren’t there and don’t know all of the details or how we might have reacted in a similar situation. Granted, the clerk perhaps used excessive force. However, I feel that trial by blog article is below the otherwise great content of TTAG.

  16. So apparently saying this article sounds like something from an anti-gunner mainstream jurno gets you a flame deleted…

  17. The clerk should have kept the door shut and called the Police if the people outside did not leave the premises within a few minutes. Maybe he was afraid they would appear to leave and ambush him and the other guy inside once they left the Store. Maybe he thought it was better to talk to the guy at the door face-to-face. Maybe the clerk had an unknown reason for not wanting to call the Police. A lot of “maybes”, but the situation still went out of control when the clerk opened the door.

    • So he calls the po-po and they show up 45+ minutes later. Meanwhile the obviously infuriated thug (“What, you can’t let a brother buy a soda? Gonna cap you, Casper!” Seen this plenty…) kicks in the $1,500 plate glass window and does what he’s threatening anyway. The clerk is respecting the “community” (that robbed and shot him earlier) by engaging with the frustrated customer instead of rudely blowing him off. He is assaulted violently, is surrounded by armed men, he fears for his life. He responds appropriately by standing his ground and defending his life- as did Zimmerman , by the way. Then he’s called an idiot by an ostensible pro-gun, pro 2A blog. Amazing.

      This blog participated in the demise of Jerry Tsai’s career at Recoil Magazine over no less a questionable stance. Will heads roll at TTAG as well?

  18. This is a great example of how being a gun owner requires that you go the extra mile to avoid provoking a fight,because if things escalate and someone gets shot it will be the gun owner who is held responsible.

    Its like a traffic crash where a speeding car hits a pedestrian who’s jaywalking. Sure the “victim” should have waited on the crosswalk;but if the car wasn’t speeding to start with there’d be no incident at all. That kid gets no pity from me-talk sh-t, throw punches, get shot. But the clerk is equally responsible; if you see a belligerent turd on the other side of the door you call the cops and let them deal with it.

    • Most likely he called the cops the last time thugs were threatening him- you know, the time they put a bullet in his leg. Again, amazing. How did he provoke anything- punching the guys fist with his chin?

  19. You leave the door shut and call the cops. Why? So if the guy outside does destroy the window and come in you have a completely defensible in court DGU. “I tried my best to avoid having to shoot Mr. Smith, you’re honor. But what options did I have? The police had not responded before Mr. Smith escalated the situation. I was in fear for my life.”

    I worked at a state prison. I’m going to take every possible step to avoid becoming a guest at one.

  20. So what you’re saying is that an unprovoked punch to the face in front of two armed associates would not be deemed an escalation?

  22. A truly great lesson in keeping your hands to yourself. I love watching that video. I wish I had the audio.

  24. Hey Bub. You need a grammar lesson.

    If you’re trying to show you’re all down widdit by talking about a plexiotomy, then give it your best shot.

    Bub.

  26. I stumbled onto this site while looking for a review of the Stoeger Coach 12 which did have a well written and useful review.
    Came across this section while checking out the rest of the site.
    Since this is the first article I have read perhaps I should refrain from comment, but I cannot help myself.

    I do not really see why this fits into the irresponsible gun owner category.

    Standard practice is to lock the door when business hours are over and to let customers that are already in the store out one by one as they conclude their business.
    While it is frustrating (has happened to me) to arrive right after the doors have been locked ultimately it is no big deal and does not warrant any action by the want-to-be customer other than to leave.
    When the clerk did open the door (for the customer patiently waiting to be let out) an offer was made to allow the man outside to enter (watch clerk’s right arm as door is opened).
    No audio so what ever is said is speculation, but at that point it becomes face to face and then the clerk is hit/slapped/punched (whatever you want to call it).

    Clearly the guy that got shot instigated the entire scenario (should have turned and walked away when he discovered the door was locked, should have just come in when invited and said thank you, should not have assulted the clerk regardless of ehat was said), which resulted in the victim (clerk) defending themselves with the force they deemed necessary.

    The responsibility for this incident lies with the thug that got shot, placing blame anywhere else is inappropriate.
    The protests should be against thugs assaulting store clerks, not against a store clerk shooting a thug.
    The dad should be apologizing that his son turned out to be a thug instead of crying that he should not have been shot.

    IMHO this does not belong in the irresponsible gun owner of the day category.

    • bravo…summed up my feelings exactly. If I’m armed, minding my business and someone hits me, they get lead. Period. Chips fall where they may. NOT appropriate category…

  27. As usual, the blacks are violent for no reason, and when a non-black shoots them, they go out and protest. As the saying goes, around blacks, never relax.

  28. Nope, I don’t see IGOTD here. What’s the clerk to do, let them set up a siege of his store until they get bored and leave? What of the other customers in the store that need to leave through the now locked door? I’m sure the cops will be there in a jiffy to fix everything, right? I thought it was, “when seconds count…”

    You can’t stand outside a store, armed, making threats, holding a clerk and customers hostage, then instigate a fight with a punch, and NOT expect to get what’s coming to you. Period. Dismissed.

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