LEVITTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA — One armed robber is dead and another seriously injured after a customer inside a pizza shop was forced to shoot them. According to witness testimony provided to police, the armed robbers entered the pizza place and told everyone to get on the ground. They started pistol whipping the only customer in the shop. He was forced to pull his own handgun to defend his life. At close range, he shot one robber in the chest and another in the shoulder and neck.
According to FOX News, the robber that was shot in the chest was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was rushed to a nearby hospital for life-threatening injuries.
“The two male robbers apparently told the employees and the customer to get on the ground. They began pistol-whipping the customer. At that point, the customer produced a handgun and shot both of the robbers,” Middletown police Chief Joseph Bartorilla said.
Police say that the gun the customer used was legally registered but they are still trying to determine if he had a permit to carry.
Regardless of the legality of this situation, that customer likely saved his own life. It’s hard to stop two armed robbers while they’re pistol whipping you on the ground. If you don’t do something, you’re shredded wheat.
As a site that advocates explicitly for responsible, legal concealed carry, we’re sometimes forced into that gray area of, “was this the right thing to do?”
If it turns out this guy didn’t have a concealed carry permit, he will still have saved his own life. Then, it comes down to that question: how much do you value that life?
We obviously value it a great deal. That’s why we carry every single day, everywhere we legally can.
In many cases, a person won’t pursue a concealed carry permit because he just assumes that if he needs to use that gun to defend himself, everything will work out. We strongly urge everyone in this category to consider the benefits of that permit after you survive that encounter.
You’ll wish you had it.
In either case, we’re proud that this guy was able to protect himself. Police wouldn’t have made it there in time to stop these two criminals from beating this man to a pulp. As for the two employees in the store, they were a captive audience to two bad guys beating a man mercilessly — for no good reason.
If there isn’t any legal or medical reason why you can’t have a gun and permit, you should consider doing it. The life you save could be your own.