April 18th

(California) Oakland liquor store worker shoots robbery suspect

An employee of an Oakland liquor store shot and wounded a would-robber, police said today. The incident happened about 9:30 p.m. Thursday at the Wah Fay liquor store near the corner of East 21st Street and Eighth Avenue in the city's San Antonio neighborhood, police Sgt. Larry Krupp said.

The employee opened fire after two men entered the store and demanded money, police said. The injured suspect, whose name was not immediately released, was taken to a local hospital. The wounds did not appear to be life-threatening, authorities said. It was not immediately known what happened to the other suspect.

The shooting comes at a time of heightened concern over robberies in the East Bay. Police in Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley are investigating a series of eight takeover robberies at restaurants over the past month. Oakland police are also trying to identify a man they have dubbed the "Chicken Hawk" because of his tendency to rob fast-food restaurants that serve chicken.

The liquor-store shooting also underscores the measures some store employees are taking. In April 2007, the owner of a pizzeria at 89th Avenue and International Boulevard in East Oakland shot and killed a would-be robber armed with an assault rifle. A month later, a clerk at a liquor store on 28th Avenue in Oakland shot and killed a 17-year-old who had fired first.

April 16th

(Arizona) Homeowner Shoots Burglar

An early-morning break-in turned fatal when the homeowner shot the intruder, Mesa police said.

The homeowner, his wife and another person woke to the sound of someone breaking into their home shortly after 2:15 a.m., police said.

The wife ran to a closet to call 911 while her husband confronted the armed intruder.

Police said the husband struggled with the intruder and shot the burglar with his own gun.

Rescue crews pronounced the burglar dead at the scene.

Police said a second would-be intruder was waiting outside the home and was arrested.

Investigators said the incident may be drug-related.

April 14th

(Alabama) Would-be Scottsboro robber gets shot in stomach, hospitalized

A would-be thief was shot in the stomach as he tried to rob a man over the weekend and is recovering in Tennessee, where he fled after the incident in Scottsboro, police said Monday.

Scottsboro Police Chief Ralph Dawe said the suspect, whose name has not been released, tried to rob a man near Highlands Medical Center around 2 a.m. Saturday.

He said the robbery target pulled a gun and shot the suspect in the abdomen. The suspect then fled to Chattanooga, Tenn., where he is being treated at Erlanger Hospital.

Dave said there were outstanding arrest warrants for the man on first-degree robbery charges for a similar incident at a local Wal-Mart and he will be extradited back to Alabama when his medical condition improves.

He said the information compiled so far provides no reason to charge the person who shot the robbery suspect. Dave said Tennessee authorities contacted their Alabama counterparts after the man gave differnt versions of how he ended up with the gunshot wound. "He gave several stories, but all accounts of what happened involved Scottsboro, so they called us," Dawe said.

April 2nd

(Louisiana) Attempted carjacking victim accidentally shoots self

A man accidentally shot himself last night after an attempted carjacking. Police were called to the 4400 block of Pines Road around midnight. The victim was sitting in his car at a gas station when he was approached by two black males wearing all black clothing and black bandanas over their faces. They produced a silver revolver and demanded the car. The victim refused and produced his own handgun.

He accidentally shot himself in the leg, and the suspects fled the scene. The victim then went inside the gas station and told the clerk what happened.

April 3rd

(Texas) Homeowner Shoots Suspect After 2 Break-Ins

A southeast Houston homeowner shot a burglary suspect Thursday afternoon after he was victimized twice in a week, officials told KPRC Local 2. Thomas Williamson lives in the 6000 block of Bois D'arc. He said he stayed home from work on Thursday after a burglar hit his home twice in a few days.

Williamson said he looked out his window at about 1 p.m. and saw a man walk across his back yard. The man went into Williamson's garage and tried to steal an air compressor, worth about $400, he said.

When the burglary suspect walked out of the garage with bolt cutters, Williamson said he grabbed his shotgun. "He came to the door and I went, 'Get on the ground. Get on the ground.' He got on the ground and I told him, 'Do not move,'" he said. "I was shaking. I had him on the ground with my shotgun and I told him, 'Do not move.' I was even yelling. I fired one shot in the ground just to show him I meant business."

Williamson said he shot the man when he tried to run. The burglary suspect was taken to Ben Taub Hospital with a gunshot wound. His condition was not released.

The District Attorney's Office said charges would probably not be filed because Williamson was protecting his property.

April 4th

(Indiana) Clerk Wrestles Gun From Would-Be Robber



Click on the link to watch the video.


A gas station attendant was back on the job Thursday night, days after he wrestled a shotgun away from a would-be robber.





Dramatic surveillance video of the incident at the Shell station at 38th Street and Capitol Avenue was released Thursday, 6News' Cheryl Jackson reported.





Clerk Deme Momar found himself in a fight for his life soon after the would-be robber came into the store. "The clerk recognized him from coming in and out and being around the neighborhood," said Indianapolis Metro police Detective Leon Benjamin.





The man waited for a customer to leave the store, then convinced Momar that he needed help with the ATM machine. "His plan was to lure the clerk from behind the secure area where the cash register was located," Benjamin said.Momar made an exception to store policy and went to help the man, after which he was greeted with a sawed-off shotgun. "It's not easy if someone pulls out a gun on you and you are between life and death," Momar said. "He ... pulled out a shotgun on me and we fight and I take the gun out of his hand."





The struggle continued for several minutes, until Momar was able to get the gun away from the man. "I let him go because I didn't know what ... to do. I couldn't shoot him, and he was begging me to let him go," Momar said. "Even if I go back there and give him the money, he will shoot me, too."





When Momar got the gun, the would-be robber's demeanor changed from attack mode to defenseless. "He thought I was trying to shoot him, so he said to me, 'Please, I'm begging you, don't shoot me. Let me go. Let me go,'" Momar said.





Police and Momar both said they think the man lives in the neighborhood."He stay around here, not so far, and he used to drive a green (Ford) Explorer, two-door," Momar said. "That day, he was walking."





Momar said he decided not to let the robbery attempt keep him from returning to work.

April 3rd

(Michigan) Suspects caught in April Fool twist

Three suspects received an April Fool's Day surprise as they attempted to break into a home on Range Line Road.

At approximately 1:20 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, a home owner called 911, saying the back door of her residence was kicked in, according to the Michigan State Police Niles Post. Apparently a female suspect had knocked on the door and when no one answered, two male suspects allegedly attempted a home invasion.

Three suspects from Indiana were arrested and are suspected in several other home invasions in Southeast Berrien County.

The 36-year-old female homeowner had armed herself with a shotgun for protection, when she heard the suspects prepare to enter her residence. "The tables were turned on these thieves when they were surprised by the armed homeowner," said Tpr. Mike McCarthy of the Niles Post.

The north Berrien County 911 center broadcast the call and description of the suspects' vehicle, which was intercepted on Old 31 by deputies and troopers. Stolen property was found in the vehicle which was linked to previous home invasions.

Arrested for felony home invasion were Daniel L. Sizemore, 28; Phillip J. Chappell, 29 and Andrea L. Bachleda, 27, all of South Bend, Ind.

They were lodged at the Niles City Jail and arraigned in the 5th District Court and their bond was set at $50,000.The Berrien County Sheriff's Department assisted with the investigation. Other area home invasions are expected to be cleared with the arrests of these suspects.

April 3rd

(Ohio) Tenant kills would-be robber, police say

A gunman who police say kicked in the door to an East Side apartment was shot to death by one of the tenants early today.

Jermaine A. McCrary, 19, of Ashville died of a single gunshot wound to the head after breaking into an apartment at 2936 E. Fifth Ave. at 1:47 a.m.

Sgt. Dana Norman of the homicide squad said McCrary intended to rob the occupants, a man and woman who told police that they didn't know him. McCrary pistol-whipped the man before he was shot by one of the tenants.

Terrified, the residents ran out of the apartment and several blocks west before finding someone to call police.

Norman wouldn't say which tenant fired the shot, and he would not release their names. He said the case will be presented to a grand jury but appeared to one of self-defense. Neither tenant has been charged with a crime.