By Robert Farago. Republished with permission from TheTruthAboutGuns.com
“About 6 p.m., 44-year-old Wilfrido Cruz called police to report his Dodge Grand Caravan stolen from his home in the 4300 block of West Cullerton,” chicago.suntimes.com reports. “Officers responded to meet with Cruz and complete a preliminary report. Cruz . . . left to search for his vehicle armed with a handgun. A few minutes later, Cruz saw two males in his vehicle two blocks away, in the 4100 block of West Cullerton.” Guess what happened next . . .
He opened fire on his own minivan and the two males, who ran away.
No one was hurt.
Yeah, no. Not a great idea. In Texas, where you have the right to shoot at felons fleeing with stolen property? Maybe. But certainly not after they’ve left the scene and you’ve gone perp hunting. And if for some reason you did that, which you really shouldn’t do, but if you did, you might not want to lie about it to the po-po.
Cruz went back to his home and hid his weapon, police said. He then spoke to the officers, who were still at the scene and had heard the gunfire.
The officers discovered Cruz had two semi-automatic handguns, a revolver and a rifle, police said.
Cruz was charged with one felony count of aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle, and is scheduled to appear in bond court Sunday.
The real problem here – other than Mr. Cruz’s decision to go all Death Wish and fire rounds that landed he knew not where – is that he’s what the Campaign for Civilian Disarmament (CSGV) will call a “good guy with a gun.” The Land of Lincoln resident had (the operative word being “had”) a conceal carry license and a FOID card.
If only Wilfredo had shot the car thieves! Then the antis could have pointed to the North Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago and said, “See? We told you the streets would run red with the blood of innocents! OK, not-so-innocents. But still . . .”
Meanwhile, chicagotribune.com reports that at least ten people were wounded in shootings across the city since Saturday night.
