PHOENIX, ARIZONA – Arizona may not have the largest percentage of gun owners in the nation — they come in somewhere in the middle of the pack at just over 30% — but the state has a strong gun culture. And if you surveyed the owners of stores that buy collectible coins, gold and silver, we’d guess the percentage of those who are armed on a daily basis would be twice that number, if not more.
But, as a rule, your average armed robber isn’t much of a thinker. So when Brittany Reid and an unidentified male accomplice decided to stick up the Coin Store in North Phoenix on Friday morning, they probably didn’t think there was much of a chance that pulling a gun on the guy behind the counter would cause and equal and opposite reaction.
The were wrong.
(The suspects) reportedly followed (the owner) into the store when the male suspect produced a handgun. The business owner ducked behind the counter and pulled his handgun, shooting the male suspect in the leg.
At that point, with one of them leaking all over the floor, Reid and the guy with a new hole in his leg probably figured the better part of valor was to GTFO. But again, they hadn’t really thought ahead, didn’t case the joint before the robbery, and missed another key factor.
Police say the store has automatic locks on the door and customers must be buzzed in and out, preventing Reid from escaping.
Reid’s still anonymous 30-year-old partner in crime was treated and will survive, though both of them will probably be living at the expense of Arizona taxpayers for the next few years. And while the store owner’s pistol is no doubt sitting in an evidence room somewhere instead of riding on his hip where it belongs, we’d guess he’s already replaced it with another one. Because there’s no shortage of Brittany Reids out there.
