This time in Houston, Texas a 17 year old teen was shot after he tried to rob a food delivery driver at gun point.
This is an interesting one.
According to police, the gun wielding teenager gave the driver the wrong address when he ordered his food, and told him to not knock on the door when he arrived.
And, while the driver was waiting for the customer to come out, pay, and get his food, the teen showed up and attempted to rob the driver with a gun.
The teen suspect took the driver’s wallet, the food he apparently ordered, and a piece of lead in the leg.
The source story has strange wording. It says this:
… but did not get far before the driver shot him in the leg.
(We’ll cover this in the analysis)
After he was shot in the leg, the alleged robber called police and told them he was shot during a drive-by shooting. This, of course, was a lie and once police officers realized the truth, they arrested him.
He is being charged with aggravated robbery.
The driver has a license to carry a gun for his protection, and it was clearly needed.
Analysis:
This is an interesting story, and has a few things I’d like to point out. First, kudos to the delivery driver for understanding the need to be armed in day to day life, work, and apparently in such a bad neighborhood that the teen thought it’d be believable to say he was targeted in a drive by shooting.
Now on to the meat of this analysis.
We clearly don’t know all the details. If we did, there would be no speculation. All we can do is point out what could have gone wrong, what could have happened better, and what I may have done differently.
The source I quoted above made it sound like the teen began to retreat before the driver shot him. We don’t know if he still had his gun fixed on the driver or if the threat was over at that point. But, if we were going off the source alone, it makes it sound like the teen was retreating.
It’s rarely ever a good idea to shoot at a bad guy once the threat is over. In Texas, things are a little different than in the rest of the country because you can protect property as well as life.
But, for the most part it isn’t a good idea. Some prosecutors will have a field day with a situation like this.
Second, we don’t know if the delivery driver meant to shoot the alleged robber in the leg or if he is just a terrible shot. I cannot think of a time when it’d be good to purposefully shoot a bad guy in the leg.
Deadly force is just that, deadly force. If it meets the criteria to use deadly force, using less than deadly force is dangerous. How does the delivery driver know if he is on a substance that could cause rage? Or if there is something else going on? He wouldn’t know.
I understand the whole not wanting to kill someone idea, but it is impossible to know the frame of mind of another. A shot to the chest is more likely to stop a threat than a shot to the leg is. A shot to the leg may not stop someone from shooting back.
Shooting to wound is not a good idea under any circumstances.
As a side note, please know that it should never be our goal to end life, but to preserve our own lives by stopping a threat. If the bad guy dies because he attacked a person willing to defend his or herself with a gun, then so be it.
Some argue that this is just semantics, but I do believe it matters.
Finally, it says that the perp called the police and said that he’d been shot. What the source story does not say is whether or not the delivery driver also called police. We have to assume here that he did call the police, but I plan to treat this as if he did not because I don’t know for certain.
And, it is beneficial to understand this.
If you are ever involved in a self-defense shooting, it is always the best possible idea to call it in yourself. I’ve heard first-hand from police officers that the first one to call something in is usually seen as the good guy. At least at first because bad guys don’t usually call the cops.
Thankfully, this kid blamed his being shot on a drive by shooting, but what if he told police that some crazy food delivery driver pulled a gun on him and shot him? Do you think that’d cause a lot of drama for that guy–especially when police roll up and he does have a gun?
Yeah, I think so.
In conclusion, always carry your gun. Everywhere. You never know. It’s rarely a good idea to shoot a retreating suspect. Police officers get jammed up for that crap, and you would too, if you did it. Again, Texas is a little different because they can technically protect property there.
But, as far as I know, Texas is the only state in the union like that.
If you feel as though it’s important enough to display your gun, don’t go for the leg. Some judges/lawyers would have a field day with that. You must shoot to stop the threat. And, finally, always call the cops yourself. If you don’t you’re just creating problems for yourself.
