MACON, GEORGIA — The manager of a restaurant found himself in a shootout with an armed robber during his shift, and it could have turned deadly for the manager based on his response.
It was reported that a masked man went inside the restaurant with a gun and then the store manager ran to the back of the restaurant.
Getting out of the danger zone is important, and it at first looks like the manager did just that. When inside a location during an armed robbery, many would think to go out the back door and run for safety. Challenges present themselves even with that thought, because there could be another bad guy just outside the door.
Instead of hiding and hunkering down, the manager takes action.
When the masked man pulled the register from the front counter, the store manager went back to the front of the store with a gun, the release says.
I don’t want to criticize the manager too much, but if the armed robber now has a cash register to carry around, chances are he’s about to bolt out the door.
He chose to engage the suspect, and the result was having bullets flying in his direction as well.
The manager and the masked man shot at each other and then the robber ran away with the register. He was last seen running to the back parking lot, according to the release.
Every situation presents itself differently, and it’s not always the best course of action to pull your gun and fire. In this particular case, a better option would have been to get to a safe place, away from the robber, and keep a close eye on their movements. And, be prepared to fire if they get too close.
If the armed robber had a register in his hands, the manager may have seen an opportunity to take action. However, the robber was still able to fire quickly on the manager, leading me to believe that the robber was more prepared than the manager had anticipated.
In the end, the manager was not hurt during the incident and the bad guy got away. It is not known if the suspect was shot or injured during the incident.
How would you have handled yourself during this situation? Would you have run out the back door? Hid until he left? Engaged?
