CHICAGO (AP) — A customer with a concealed carry license shot and killed an armed man attempting to rob a Chicago neighborhood store, police said Sunday.
A masked man walked into the store and currency exchange about 7 p.m. Saturday on the city’s southwest side, displayed a handgun and announced a robbery to an employee, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. The gunman then pointed his weapon at another employee and forced her to the back of the store.
The armed customer then fatally shot the man, identified Sunday by the Cook County medical examiner’s office as 55-year-old Reginald Gildersleeve. Other details about Gildersleeve weren’t released.
No one else was hurt during the incident. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the customer, who has not been identified, will face charges. Guglielmi said preliminary details suggest the customer was not at fault, but that the case was under review by local prosecutors.
“We’re looking at it as a self-defense issue at this point,” he said.
Last month, a Michigan woman with a concealed carry license shot at shoplifters fleeing a Detroit-area Home Depot store, flattening a tire of their SUV. No one was hurt, and the suspected shoplifters were arrested several days later. The woman faces up to 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to a charge of reckless discharge of a firearm. Two other shootings in which citizens fired at lawbreakers or potential lawbreakers also happened in September in Michigan.
“It’s a slippery slope” when it comes to the question of whether citizens who are licensed to carry guns should intervene in dangerous situations, if at all, Guglielmi said.
“You have situations like this,” he said, referring to the foiled Chicago robbery. “And you have situations that end tragically. The department is not going to advocate for what people should or shouldn’t do.”
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Sometimes, an unbelted passenger survives a car crash because he’s “thrown clear” of the crash. That’s still not an argument for not wearing seatbelts. Bad odds. Ditto for the idea of every Tom, Dick, and Harry packin’ heat.
Bet this fellow will long regret his time in front of a judge for the killing, then more time and $ defending a wrongful death suit by the family of the fellow he killed. Could also get jail time too. He’ll be very sorry.
Was the customer ever threatened? Sounds like manslaughter to me. Guy with gun is not the same as cop. Vigilante ism shouldn’t be rewarded.
Seriously? Yall lets get a posse up to and go a gunnin’ for some thugs! Police aint gonna tells us we shouldna do it! Yee-fuckin’-Haa! Just talk some trash and when they gets close 'nuff, open up on 'em baby! Look here Cletus, I done shot me a ni-CLANG!
Bet he walks. Maybe a judge will rule against him in a wrongful death suit, but don’t count on it.