Armed Samaritan Shoots Robber who Wounded Woman Store Owner

Image from thedenverchannel.com

On Friday, 16 March, about 2 p.m. in Aurora, Colorado, an armed robber victimized a small grocery run by an Ethiopian immigrant. In the barber shop next door, the barbers heard a scream, then a shot, then two more shots. One of the barbers grabbed his gun and went out the door. Outside he entered into a gunfight with the robbery suspect. From the portrayal of the other barber, it appears the armed Samaritan used cover and concealment.  Several shots were fired. The armed robbery suspect was wounded, and ran off.

 Video of interview from the scene


From auroragov.org: 

It is believed that the female victim is the owner of the grocery store and that she sustained her injuries during a robbery of the business. The female was transported to a local hospital where she currently remains in serious but stable condition.

During the investigation, officers determined that a Good Samaritan confronted the robbery suspect outside of the grocery store and the Good Samaritan shot the suspect. The suspect then fled the area.

A short time later, officers made contact with an adult male who was suffering from a gunshot wound in the area of South Joliet Street and East Garden Drive. Officers believe that the male was the robbery and shooting suspect who had fled from the area of the grocery store. The male was placed in custody and transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The Barber (not the Armed Samaritan) in the video told the interviewer that the suspect fired at the Armed Samaritan. That tidbit is in the video, but not in the transcript.

From ijr.com:

James Sagere, who works at a barber shop next to the grocery store, told Denver 7 the good Samaritan, who is a co-worker of his, and sprung into action as the events unfolded.

“He’s a hero. He’s a hero,” he said. “If it wasn’t for him being here, I don’t know how that could have ended up. I’m not sure if one of us could have got hurt.”

This screenshot from the video shows the car behind the robbery suspect during the gunfight. Notice the bullet holes are in a relatively small area. A car is pretty good at stopping pistol bullets. The armed Samaritan barber was not just spraying and praying. Those were aimed shots. The distance appears to be about 50 feet, nearly from one side of the parking lot to the other.

After the gunfight, the barbers performed first aid on the shooting victim in the grocery store. They placed a tourniquet on her leg. Current practice has gone back to recommending tourniquets to stop the bleeding. At the hospital, the victim was said to be in serious but stable condition.

The police are still investigating, but the use of the term "Good Samaritan" is a good sign. No charges have been brought against the Armed Samaritan.

An armed suspect with a gun is a deadly threat. A decent shot with a pistol can hit man sized targets to 100 yards, easily. In Panama, at the 100 yard range in Gamboa, I could place bullets on a metal gong with my Colt Woodsman over 90% of the time, firing one handed, standing. It was an 18" target.

When an armed suspect has a firearm and is capable of firing back, they are a deadly threat. That usually makes the use of deadly force justified.

In this case, the suspect was wounded and collected by the police. Maybe a crime spree was stopped at the beginning.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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