COBB COUNTY, GEORGIA — A subway employee confronted an armed robber after the armed robber threatened him with a gun. The employee was cleaning the store when Deandre Antonio Yates, 20, entered the store and pointed a gun at him. Using his own gun, the employee shot Yates in the chest. Yates fled the location but was later apprehended by police.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Yates survived surgery and was booked into Cobb County. He will stand trial for aggravated assault and using a firearm in the commission of a crime. Detectives with Cobb County say they are seeking out potential accomplices associated with that crime. If Yates had died, those accomplices would have potentially been charged with Yates’ murder.
A lot of people think it’s ridiculous or unneeded to bring a gun into the workplace. Especially when doing janitorial duties or getting ready to open or close a store or restaurant, there is a lot of vulnerability to armed criminals.
Armed criminals love to hit businesses when they’re just opening or getting ready to close. In both cases, the employees are at a lowered readiness to address an armed robber and they usually have fresh money for the register.
Yates is only twenty years old. He wouldn’t have been old enough to purchase a handgun legally. Additionally, the AJC says that Yates is a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. That is no where near Cobb County, Georgia. Either Cobb County is importing criminals or thugs put Yates up to the gig.
In either case, Yates put that employee’s life in direct danger by pointing a gun at him. In accordance with Georgia law, that employee took the proper measures in defending himself. That’s unfortunately a sorely needed thing in this day.
Anyone who tells you it’s ridiculous or unnecessary to carry a gun doesn’t understand how violence works. Violence can arrive at any time or place with little to no warning. The constantly regurgitated phrases of, “oh, but if you give him (the armed criminal) what he wants, everything will be okay,” fall on deaf ears the moment violence is enacted against a law-abiding citizen.
The normalization of victimization is disastrous.
Don’t fight back, they’ll say.
It’ll be alright, they’ll say.
It will until it won’t. And then it’s too late. For those afraid to carry a concealed handgun because they’re afraid they’ll have to take responsibility for their own safety, don’t worry about it. If your philosophy holds true, you’ll be good for the rest of your days. For those of us who do, we don’t have to wonder.
Carry everyday, everywhere you legally can. Your life is worth it.
