Harlem Store Owner Shoots Four Robbers, Two Die, New York Rejoices
This happy piece of news from my old home town, New York City. From Robert D. McFadden, The New York Times, "Store Owner Shoots 4 Men, 2 Fatally, During Robbery Attempt in Harlem" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/nyregion/14shoot.html?_r=4&ref=nyregion).
Watching it happen, Mr. Augusto, whom neighborhood friends call Gus, rose from a chair 20 to 30 feet away and took out a loaded Winchester 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a pistol-grip handle. The police said he bought it after a robbery 30 years ago.
Mr. Augusto, who has never been in trouble with the law, fired three blasts in rapid succession, the police said, although Vernon McKenzie, working at an Internet company next door, heard only two booms, loud enough to send him rushing to a window, where he heard someone shout: “You’re dead! You’re dead!”
It's not sure who did the shouting or who was being referred to, though as it turned out, the statement would be accurate for two of the humanoid creatures who invaded this man's store.
The first shot took down the gunman at the front. He died almost immediately, according to the police, who said he was 29 and had been arrested for gun possession in Queens last year and was the nephew of a police officer.
Mr. Augusto’s other two blasts hit all three accomplices, who stumbled out the door, bleeding.
One of them, a 21-year-old, staggered across 125th Street and collapsed in front of the General Grant Houses, a nine-building complex with 4,500 residents, one of the city’s biggest housing projects. Someone called 911, and an ambulance rushed him to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he was dead on arrival. The police said he had a record of arrests for weapons possession and robbery.
The other two were then captured, one because he was littering the sidewalk with various internal bodily fluids, the other because witnesses had described him.
The best news so far is that there are apparently zero consequences for Mr. Augusto.
If it stays this way, it's an event over which everyone can be happy.
Well, everyone but the friends and family of the vaguely-anthropomorphic things which died. But then, they're probably much better off without them anyway.
Watching it happen, Mr. Augusto, whom neighborhood friends call Gus, rose from a chair 20 to 30 feet away and took out a loaded Winchester 12-gauge pump-action shotgun with a pistol-grip handle. The police said he bought it after a robbery 30 years ago.
Mr. Augusto, who has never been in trouble with the law, fired three blasts in rapid succession, the police said, although Vernon McKenzie, working at an Internet company next door, heard only two booms, loud enough to send him rushing to a window, where he heard someone shout: “You’re dead! You’re dead!”
It's not sure who did the shouting or who was being referred to, though as it turned out, the statement would be accurate for two of the humanoid creatures who invaded this man's store.
The first shot took down the gunman at the front. He died almost immediately, according to the police, who said he was 29 and had been arrested for gun possession in Queens last year and was the nephew of a police officer.
Mr. Augusto’s other two blasts hit all three accomplices, who stumbled out the door, bleeding.
One of them, a 21-year-old, staggered across 125th Street and collapsed in front of the General Grant Houses, a nine-building complex with 4,500 residents, one of the city’s biggest housing projects. Someone called 911, and an ambulance rushed him to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center, where he was dead on arrival. The police said he had a record of arrests for weapons possession and robbery.
The other two were then captured, one because he was littering the sidewalk with various internal bodily fluids, the other because witnesses had described him.
The best news so far is that there are apparently zero consequences for Mr. Augusto.
If it stays this way, it's an event over which everyone can be happy.
Well, everyone but the friends and family of the vaguely-anthropomorphic things which died. But then, they're probably much better off without them anyway.