Waco/Bellmead purse snatcher

[mrbuck]

>
Not sure if this link will work or not,this happened today and involved a bystander firing a weapon. If this link does not work I will erase this post.

[Texas_Blaze]

Looking forward to hearing opinions on the legalities on this one. personally, I wouldn't have shot the thug, but am also not complaining that he was shot. I hope there aren't any charges for the shooter.

[Javier730]

[mrbuck]

News says the police are looking for the woman,guess she left the scene! I wouldnt have taken that shot either.

[mrbuck]

If the other 3 guys that were gawking would have helped hold the thief down he would have not gotten up to begin with....

[rbwhatever1]

Those other three pathetic people standing around watching are the worse part of this. My daughter would have done more to stop the thug.

[treadlightly]

With a small twinge of regret, I side with those who wouldn't have shot. It appears the purse snatcher was asking for proactive evolution, but it wasn't right to humor him.

According to kwtx.com, the armed bystander observed the punk, either getting taken down or actually seizing an elderly woman's purse. The bystander got out of her truck with her pistol, and it looks to me like she took up a position waiting for a shot.

Although I would rather that snatcher's oxygen had gone to a more worthwhile creature, a sewer rat, perhaps, it looks to me like the shooter was solidly in the wrong. She attempted to shoot someone in the back. I suspect the alleged stolen property had already been abandoned.

It's disgusting, too, that she missed, even though the shot was uncalled for. She shouldn't have fired, and she sure shouldn't have launched an uncontrolled round in a public area. No, strike that. None of us, her included, should ever launch an uncontrolled round anywhere. It seems worse in a public area.

This incident, and the Arlington undercover officer shooting, has inspired me to be a little more firm with myself, philosophically.

It sounds heartless and wrong to tell oneself that it's ok to let others bleed while cravenly taking cover, but I think that's the right kind of self programming. Don't shoot, avoid, and if others get killed, it's not your bad.

Shocking, but here's my thinking. If my default tactic is to not be a superhero I will have a stronger habit of evaluating before shooting. In the heat of a situation, particularly if there is the situational pressure of others acting too quickly, I'm not, excuse the pun, going off half-cocked.

If I daydreamed about being the one true knight on a white horse saving the day, I might bring myself to looking too eagerly for the chance.

Now, if the punk had been charging the armed bystander or if the punk had been assaulting someone, fire on the up-roll and aim for the mainmast. But after the snatching, while he's running away, when he's no longer threatening anyone - that's not right, and it reflects very badly on those who wish to rightfully, morally, keep self-defensive tools peacefully at hand.

She left the scene. Waco police are looking for her.

[jed]

If the shooter is found, she should be charged. With my understanding of deadly force, she was very wrong here. Even producing a gun let alone firing it. I hope she doesn't have a CHL, if so she should loose it. This is the same as the Homedepot shoplifter shooting.

[FastCarry]

Ouch. Might be tough to justify that one, especially with the calm demeanor of the person recording the incident. It didn't seem to me there was a life in danger, although thats not the only justification for deadly force, just my personal justification.

If he truly was commuting a robbery (possibly aggravated?), and the shooter had reason to believe he was on his way to commit another, then maybe she gets off. But discharging a firearm with that many people around, whew lucky no one else was hurt.

[srothstein]

I think it might be easier to justify than some think. The purse snatching might very well be classified as a theft or as a robbery. The difference would be the amount of force used to get the purse. If the purse was just grabbed, it is theft from a person but if the owner put up any resistance, then it become a robbery. Deadly force can be used to prevent the fleeing after the robbery.

And you could always try the stretch part. It might also be justified as preventing an escape after a lawful arrest. The purse snatching was a felony and all citizens have the legal authority to make an arrest in that case. The men trying to hold him down show that force was necessary. When he breaks free from them, it is technically an escape from a lawful arrest and the fact that the suspect did break free from multiple people holding him could lend credence to a claim that less than deadly force was not working so deadly force was needed.

Having said all that, I agree that I would not have shot in that case and think the woman was wrong. And, I think she also thought she was wrong. You can see her standing there after the shot with the two guys who were just watching. Police sirens are heard and she starts walking towards the front of the camera-woman's car and is not seen again. From what I can see on her face, I am guessing she was not happy that the police were coming that quickly and was more than a little worried about her shooting so she decided to leave. To me, her leaving says a lot.

[Jim Beaux]

Looks like she is pointing her gun and/or sweeping everyone. I wouldnt have taken the shot.

[Larz_1]

I just watched the video.
My observations:

1> I would not have jumped out of my vehicle with a firearm and inserted myself into the situation in the first place.
Observe and report unless he was a direct threat to me or was armed himself.

2> She didn't shoot him.
She raises her gun and fires a warning shot into the air - the perp happens to trip at the same time, making it look like he was shot.
-Dumb- I wonder where that bullet landed.
I'm familiar with that area and I-35, several businesses and residential areas are in the direction that she just sent an uncontrolled round.

3> I don't know what happened prior to the start of the video but, I don't think deadly force would have been justified based on what I saw.
I would not have taken the shot unless he tried to run at me. Then I would have stopped the threat.

4> She left the scene. Probably not a smart decision. I'd be willing to bet that if they find her, she will be facing some sort of charges - Negligent discharge, leaving the scene ..... something.

JMHO

[JALLEN]

BELLMEAD (November 20, 2015) A bystander took a shot at a fleeing purse thief Friday afternoon in the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter in Bellmead in an incident that a witness recorded on a cellphone.

Witnesses said that a man stole an elderly woman’s purse as she and another woman unloaded groceries from a shopping car and ran with four or five other men in pursuit.

The men caught up with the thief and at one point had him pinned to the ground, witnesses said.

Meanwhile a woman who saw the commotion parked her pickup truck, and got out, carrying a handgun, witnesses said.

She pointed the gun in the direction of the thief, and when he managed to break free and run, she fired a single shot in his direction.

He stumbled when the shot was fired, but wasn’t hit and was recaptured.

The woman who fired the shot got back in her truck and drove off, the witnesses said.

From KWTX10, where story continues.

[JALLEN]

Leaving the scene...... Hmmmmm.

You are not to leave the scene of a traffic incident you are involved in, where there is injury or damage, but is there any similar requirement for non traffic events? Nobody was hurt.

I don't know of any legal requirement for someone to remain or give statements, say, after a bank robbery you witness but did not participate in.

Discharging a firearm in city limits, maybe? No requirement to remain.

[Larz_1]

Leaving the scene...... Hmmmmm.

You are not to leave the scene of a traffic incident you are involved in, where there is injury or damage, but is there any similar requirement for non traffic events? Nobody was hurt.

I don't know of any legal requirement for someone to remain or give statements, say, after a bank robbery you witness but did not participate in.

Yes, but she WAS an active participant and became so the moment she decided to grab her gun, get out of her vehicle and point that gun at someone.

If the responding officers had noticed her holding the gun when they arrived, I'm pretty sure SHE would have been the focus of their attention.
They just didn't see her.