Omaha Store Shooting Driver Sentenced
courtesy omaha.com

Sometimes the gods smile on you. As when they demonstrate that most armed bad guys have very little experience with the guns they carry. The gods certainly seem to have regarded Ed Jones of Omaha with favor last fall.

“I want you to know that the only reason I wasn’t hurt was because they missed,” Jones told a judge Friday. “They fired shots at me. They missed every time.”

Mr. Jones didn’t. He was working at a tobacco store when two armed men walked in. It was clear they weren’t there to pick up at tin of Sutliff Private Stock or a couple of My Father El Centurions.

Jones ran out the back door and around the front of the building where he, armed with a gun, encountered Velazquez and Rodriguez. Both 18-year-olds opened fire.

With the two shooting at him, he did the only thing he could.

Jones returned fire, hitting 18-year-old Jose Mario Velazquez, who later died at a hospital. The other teen in the robbery, York Rodriguez, was arrested, as was the driver, Luis Vargas Aguilar.

Shooter Rodriguez has since taken a plea deal and is awaiting sentencing. This week, the justice system put the driver away for a good long time.

Friday, Douglas County District Judge Duane Dougherty sentenced Aguilar, 19, to 18 to 24 years in prison. The term, which is cut in half under state sentencing guidelines, means Aguilar must serve nine years before he’s eligible for parole and 12 years before release. Aguilar had faced up to 50 years in prison after pleading no contest to a robbery charge.

Dougherty said Jones had little choice other than to do what he did. The judge said he couldn’t comprehend the terror that went through Jones’ mind — and the anxiety that lingers.

“He’ll be tore up for the rest of his life,” Dougherty said. “I can’t imagine how he gets through his thoughts every day, trying to do what he can to get back to a normal life.”

That’s no doubt been extremely difficult. The only thing worse would have been not coming home to his family ever again.

Jones said he thinks every day about the encounter and how he was nearly taken from his loved ones, including four children.

“It kind of goes without saying this was extremely devastating for myself and my family,” Jones said. “I was convinced I was going to be killed that day.

 

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19 COMMENTS

  1. Thumbs up to the clerk.
    What a crock O crap that Giffords report tagged to the robbery story is.
    According to them. Ive never used my gun in a defense of myself or others. Nor am I likely to.
    If I did(which I have 3 times in over 30 years), Why would I tell them?? Let alone admit I even own a gun to a pollster?? Ill leave that to Gary Kleck and if he asks me. Ill tell him.
    Its none of their, Gifford’s collective business. Even if it might help the cause. Which I feel is doubtful. Because, they would lie and play with the numbers anyway.

  2. Just the idea that you have a gun or might have a gun stops people from trying to hurt/rob/rape you or members of family. This is shown in how many of these crimes are done in gun friendly states vs. anti gun states. Arizona does not have as much of this type of crime as Calif does. I live in Calif and am ready, in case this happens, but I know many who aren’t.

    • We don’t need to look at figures relating to which states allow carry and which don’t.
      All we need do is ask the criminals. They have repeatedly told researchers that they will look for those victims who are the easiest prey.
      There are extremely few predators who don’t look for the weakest members of a herd to attack.

  3. Most people, if asked why they don’t carry, will say they “play the odds”. That’s fine if you’re only gambling with your money. Not so fine if you are gambling with your life.

  4. Good on him, yeah it sucks to be put into that situation, but he didnt ask for these idiots to rob him.
    And as far as the good guy with a gun BS from Giffords, they happen far more often than you think. I have had one. Fortunately didnt have to pull the trigger. Its never a good thing, and i think about it all the time. The what ifs mostly.

    • In civilian life, I’ve had two instances where demonstrating (without brandishing) that I had a concealed firearm kept me safe from a likely assault and robbery.

  5. A great outcome…anyone see the video of the large black man violently knocking a much smaller white man down? And getting shot? Amazing the # of doofuses on FB thinking assault doesn’t justify shooting the jerk with a criminal record…

  6. I’m starting to notice a pattern regarding the names of these would be robbers/killers.

  9. “Sometimes the gods smile on you” no, no..

    “Sometimes God smiles on you” FTFY

  11. “The term, which is cut in half under state sentencing guidelines, means Aguilar must serve nine years before he’s eligible for parole and 12 years before release.”
    So here’s what I see: The legislature sets the penalties for violating the law. Then the state “guidelines” (not law, “guidelines”) cut those penalties in half. The stated reason is that if the “guidelines” weren’t there, the state would need to build more prisons at great expense. Enter the conspiracy theorist in me( which doesn’t get released often), which says if they spent the money on more prisons, there would be fewer criminals on the streets,and politicians wouldn’t be able to tout the crime rate (which is at recent lows) to get (re)elected. To put it another way, the state (the administrative branch) overrules the legislative branch and tells the judicial branch what sentences they can hand out, so the people in the administrative branch can enjoy their jobs with more security.
    Or am I being too conspiratorial?

  12. Article goes to show bullet selection and shot placement is a critical difference, Gifford’s lived although a little off kilter in the American way off life thing! Other dude body shot and expired go figure!

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