FL: Gun Taken from Victim, Suspects Arrested

In this unusual Florida case, the two suspects are said to have attacked an armed citizen who was in his car, to have taken his gun, and fled the scene.   It all happened at a McDonald's drive-through, when the victim honked at the attackers who were ahead of him and who had received their order, but had not driven off.   From myfoxtampabay.com:

Police say the Gregory Fulham got out of the car, went to the driver's side of the car behind them and started punching the man, who had pulled a gun from his glovebox.

Police say Kevin Fulham went to the passenger side, grabbed the gun out of the victim's hand and took it. The two then got back into their car and drove away, police said.

I can see having the drivers side window down; the victim was getting ready to make an order at a drive-through.   It seems that the passenger door was unlocked, or maybe that window was down as well, and the son side of the attack team was able to unlock the door through the window.    I have also read of several attempted robberies of armed citizens  at McDonalds drive-throughs which have not ended well for the robbers.

This event occurred at about 3 a.m.  The victim was a 50 year old man.  one story says that the victim grabbed his handgun, but did not point it at his attackers; the accounts are not contradictory.

It could have happened this way: the victim did not have the gun in hand when first attacked, then attempted to retrieve it from the glove box.  Before he could bring it into play, the second attacker had obtained entry and was able to take  the gun from him, probably facilitated by his father who was holding on to and punching the victim. 

The attackers clearly made a mistake in the victim selection process, for while no one was shot, the police were able to obtain a partial license plate and make the arrest.   It will likely to be an expensive mistake for the attacking father-son team.  Ubiquitous cameras and recording devices are making this sort of anti-social violence more and more risky for violent offenders.  When attackers leave their vehicle to go to another, then attack the occupant, there is little question as to who is the aggressor.  In this case, they were lucky that neither of them died as a result of their attack.

It also illustrates that the glove box is not the optimum place to carry a defensive firearm.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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