The Second Amendment and the rights it conveys are important. Yet a cool head in the face of danger is the best weapon of all.
A man leaving a small grocery store outside St. while armed with a rifle suddenly felt a gun being held to the back of his head, according to KSDK-TV. The victim calmly handed over his gun and jacket and headed to his car.
Unfortunately for the suspected holdup man, he hadn’t anticipated that the victim had a second gun in his vehicle, which soon came into play.
KSDK reported that a brief shootout ensued during which the suspected thief, Bobby Lee Booker, Jr., 31, and two innocent bystanders who had just pulled up at the grocery, both female, were shot. The gunshot wounds sustained by the women in the May 27 incident were not life-threatening.
The robbery victim fled the scene, according to KSDK. A third man then arrived, shot Booker and left, the station reported.
Booker had to be hospitalized for his wounds, under police guard.
He has been charged with “armed criminal action, first-degree robbery and two counts each of unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm,” KSDK reported. “His cash-only bond is set at $500,000.”
According to a “probable cause report,” police got to the Wellston Food Market parking lot at 2:45 p.m. to find Booker down, wounded and bleeding, in of the store.
Do you think concealed carry makes more sense than open carry?
KSDK spoke to Major Ron Martin with the North County Police Cooperative who told them the victim had “fled the scene” and that they “believe a third man came and shot” Booker, and then left the scene himself.
“It was unclear if the three men know each other,” Martin added.
Martin, according to KSDK, said “the patron was ‘open carrying’ the rifle in a gun sleeve underneath an article of clothing.”
The man did not threaten anyone in the store.
The store has been the scene of gunfights before.
While responding to a call about a bad check at the market in 2019, North County Police Cooperative Officer Michael Langsdorf was fatally shot.
Ironically, KSDK reported that Booker’s failed robbery attempt and the gunfight that followed occurred approximately 45 minutes after a memorial service for Langsdorf had ended at Wellston City Hall.
In the Twitter post below, a user who identified herself as a former St. Louis resident lamented that incidents like this are just part of “everyday life” in the area.
I lived downtown St. Louis. Unless it is mass shooting, it’s just everyday life. See Wellston grocery store this week two woman shot – 2nd A guy carrying gets gun taken, goes to car to get another gun & mayhem. The women? Collateral damage. https://t.co/RapU5n3qtf
— Sandra Hanlon (@sandralhanlon) June 2, 2022
At any rate, as they say, those who live by the sword die by the sword, or at least get pretty messed up in the process.
To Booker, his victim must have seemed like an attractive target. The big problem with open carry is the fact that you’re signaling to everyone within eyesight that you’re armed. That can make a tempting mark for thugs who want a free weapon (not to mention a target in any mass shooting incident).
Good thing for this victim, he had planned ahead.
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