Family of Man Shot While Robbing a Waffle House Calls for Stricter Gun Laws

The family of a North Carolina man who was shot and killed while committing an armed robbery is calling for stricter gun laws.

Dante Williams, 19, and his accomplice Jawan Craig walked into the Waffle House restaurant and “terrorized” the customers in 2012 intent on robbing it at gun point. Upon being approached by Williams, gun in hand, one of the patrons, Justin Harrison – who also had a concealed weapon on him but had an actual permit for it – shot Williams in self-defense, killing him “almost instantly,” according to a Fox News affiliate in North Carolina. Fox only recently acquired the video footage from the 2012 incident.

Craig tried wrestling the gun away from Harrison but couldn’t and fled the scene. He was later apprehended and sentenced to 30 years in prison for participating in the robbery.

Williams’s cousin Tamika McSwain is saying that although what he did was wrong, he shouldn’t have died and is calling for stricter gun laws. In the video, she specifically cites Harrison in her argument, asserting that tougher regulations for the acquirement of concealed weapon permits may have prevented her cousin’s death.

McSwain said her cousin obtained the gun through the crowd the teen hung out with – “the wrong crowd,” she said, while noting that she believes more training is needed for CWP carriers, specifically Harrison.

Harrison, however, says he did what he had to do. David Blanton, who was Harrison’s CWP instructor, reviewed the video and said Harrison followed his training and was justified in firing, notes Fox.