HUMBLE, TEXAS — In the heat of the moment, a concealed carrier recognized that one his favorite Chinese restaurants was getting robbed and set himself up at a distance to ambush the robbers as they got away. When the robbers emerged, the loyal customer let loose with a withering fire at them and their getaway vehicle. It was unclear if any of the robbers were hit as they escaped in a Nissan car but another customer’s vehicle caught one of the rounds.
As Harris County deputies reported to ABC 13 News, charges likely won’t be pending for the concealed carriers actions. After all, this is Texas, and if you see a violent felony in progress, you may intervene.
However, we’d like to point out that this was highly dangerous behavior. The concealed carrier fired from a position across the street where there were four lanes of road between him and the robbers.
It really is a horrible feeling to sit and judge someone else’s well intentioned actions and critique every little misstep. The problem is that when rounds are being fired, there is a lot more to consider than simply “winning”.
First, the crime was already over by the time the concealed carrier intervened. The robbers weren’t going to just drop the cash and bounce, they already had a secured mode of egress from the scene of the crime.
At best, if he had been successful in stopping them with lethal force, he still was irresponsible in the manner he went about it.
There’s so much about this scenario that screams “good idea, worst possible execution”.
Here’s where we think he may have had a good idea — he took cover.
And that’s where it ends. Opening fire on distant, irregular shaped targets blocked by an automobile from a distance of approximately 50 yards is not in of itself the worst culprit. It’s the fact he endangered the lives and property of all those around the field of fire he laid down on those bad guys.
This is a clear case where the concealed carrier was not in danger. His life was not being directly threatened. He could have simply called police and worked out a description of the vehicle, maybe even a license plate that could be used to identify some of the culprits. There were multiple possibilities to do anything else other than open fire from a distance.
It cannot be stressed enough — if deadly force isn’t needed to solve a situation, don’t use it. Keep your gun tucked away and use your powers of observation to help law enforcement catch the culprits responsible for that crime. Let’s hope this is a lesson we can all learn from and apply in a high stress environment.