Gig Harbor man shoots man he wrongly suspects of stealing groceries

[TorchRedTulsan]

MSN

Not that I assume all the details are in the article, but blocking an exit seems…unwise. How would you handle someone prohibiting you from leaving a grocery store? Based on the man's actions, let's assume that walking away and using another exit wouldn't have been an option

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[Andy54Hawken]

I wouldn't...
As in I wouldn't try to stop someone from stealing groceries...or block their exit.
I could be wrong in thinking that they are stealing....and....Even if they are stealing they are not posing a threat to me .
So , no for me , to try and stop them or shooting them.

Please note that I do not think that stealing is right or should be allowed / go unpunished....
I just don't see the need to shoot here or try and stop them.
Andy

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

I predict a Psych Eval in someones near future

 

[User 1234]

Is the shooter's name Brandon?

 

[Knobgoblin]

I predict a Psych Eval in someones near future

Maybe yank his concealed, possible loss of gun rights.

But I bet he still has a driver's license for another decade.

 

[Tlock]

I wouldn't...
As in I wouldn't try to stop someone from stealing groceries...or block their exit.
I could be wrong in thinking that they are stealing....and....Even if they are stealing they are not posing a threat to me .
So , no for me , to try and stop them or shooting them.

Please note that I do not think that stealing is right or should be allowed / go unpunished....
I just don't see the need to shoot here or try and stop them.
Andy

Yes stealing is definitely wrong but I'm with you Andy it is definitely NOT my job to stop a shoplifter.....there are people getting paid at most stores to do that. It's called lost prevention

 

[User 1234]

If the news article is true this shooter started a confrontation that did not exist, over property, and send rounds through a grocery store on a Saturday afternoon. Presumably bystanders aplenty. If those facts are true and no other justification exists, I'd be glad if the shooter loses his gun rights for life. F him.

 

[TorchRedTulsan]

I wouldn't...
As in I wouldn't try to stop someone from stealing groceries...or block their exit.
I could be wrong in thinking that they are stealing....and....Even if they are stealing they are not posing a threat to me .
So , no for me , to try and stop them or shooting them.

Please note that I do not think that stealing is right or should be allowed / go unpunished....
I just don't see the need to shoot here or try and stop them.
Andy

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Initiate contact to force your way past? Wait who knows how long for the cops to show up? Obviously try a different exit, but assuming the "vigilantly" blocks any viable exit

 

[VinnieBoomBah]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

I'd likely 'turn myself in' to an employee just to get away from him as fast as I could. I would say "my mamma didn't rase no fools" but if you ever met either my brothers you would know that was a lie

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Ahhh...
Well , remain calm...maybe call the cashier over to explain that I paid...perhaps slowly take out and show my receipt...

If a gun was pulled...
Well then , do what I need to do , in order to survive..whatever that may be , that seems the best in that particular moment.
Emphasis here 'cause every moment / situation is different.
Andy

 

[solv3nt]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Initiate contact to force your way past? Wait who knows how long for the cops to show up? Obviously try a different exit, but assuming the "vigilantly" blocks any viable exit

Pepper spray, it works on feral animals, it should work on feral humans too.

 

[Tlock]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Verbal judo! I would do anything to escalate the situation.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Initiate contact to force your way past? Way who knows how long for the cops to show up? Obviously try a different exit, but assuming the "vigilantly" blocks any viable exit

Situational.
Massive options, depending on variables. I wouldn't go straight to the hands unless the blocker struck first.

 

[nwslopoke]

Agreed. I wouldn't either. I was more wondering what others would do if you were the one being blocked

Not always easy to do. Not sure when the gun was introduced to the "fight". Who touched who initially? Pretty sure Mr 40 y.o. didn't foresee that.

I do my best to respect older people even when they are wrong or behaving badly. I want to believe age had the most to do with the escalation, but what if the person was younger?

 

[User 1234]

In Gig Harbor police response times are quick. I would have told him I was calling the police, and waited for them to arrive.

 

[Jay Walk]

I would have knocked that old fool to the ground prior to my being shot.

 

[RX-79G]

You could ask an employee for help - they're the ones that sold you the groceries. Better than getting in any sort of physical altercation. Especially in an age where people start fist fights and then decide they want to "stand their ground".

The guy with the gun is just a loon that ought to locked up one way or another. If he didn't do this, it would have been something else, like "mistakenly" shooting one of his adult children or the UPS guy.

 

[CountryGent]

There's a ton of stupid in that short story. Even if the younger man was, in fact, stealing from the establishment, it wasn't the older guy's problem. Better to just call the cops and be a good witness. And if it was, in fact, a misinterpretation, no one would have been plugged and/or going to jail. A little common sense goes a long way.

 

[Koda]

How would you handle someone prohibiting you from leaving a grocery store? Based on the man's actions, let's assume that walking away and using another exit wouldn't have been an option

Actually this is a good question because it would be so easy to resist the guy detaining you because you know he was wrong and had zero authority even under a citizens arrest law. The problem with resisting the guy is it only escalates the situation.....
Deescalation is what we are supposed to do, but this story is a good reminder that we should do that too even when we know for a fact we are in the right.

 

[American123]

MSN

Not that I assume all the details are in the article, but blocking an exit seems…unwise. How would you handle someone prohibiting you from leaving a grocery store? Based on the man's actions, let's assume that walking away and using another exit wouldn't have been an option

In this hypothetical scenario where someone was trying to prevent me from exiting the store (and I had done no wrong) and their intent was to seemingly prevent me from stealing things - I would try to de-escalate the situation verbally with the person blocking my way. If that failed I would ask the store manager to intervene and again try to verbally de-escalate. Too many trigger happy idiots for me to want to use force to resolve issues unless the force I use is so overwhelming it makes their response incapable of being a problem for me.

Another train of thought is grocery stores often have at least two exits often located at different sides of the store. I'd see if walking away to another exit remedied the situation.

Assessing the person in front of me would really determine what happens next.

On another topic - the law doesn't allow use of deadly force for shoplifting. Regardless of anyone's opinion on what the law should or shouldn't allow, currently, if you shoot a shoplifter, you're going to jail. So it's a stupid way to intervene regardless.