On January 22 two concealed carry permit holders surprised armed robbers a Columbia, South Carolina barbershop, killing one and causing the second to flee under fire.
The incident occurred around 7 pm at Next Up Barber and Beauty.
According to the Columbia Police Department (CPD), customers say “two armed men wearing masks demanded and stole money from them.” And CPD has confirmed that “one of the suspect’s weapons was stolen from a South Columbia home in 2012.”
In the course of moving around to collect valuables from patrons, the “two armed men” were met with gunfire from two concealed permit holders who were in the barbershop. CPD said, “Two of the victims with valid concealed weapons permits shot at both suspects during the armed robbery. One of the suspects was shot multiple times before running from the business and collapsing outside” and the second escaped.
The one who collapsed was later pronounced dead and the police were unsure if the one who escaped had been shot as well.
Barber Brandon Dreher told WLTX what happened Friday night: “Two men came in, armed one with a handgun, one with a rifle and ordered everybody to put their hands up. They forced all the customers and kids to put their hands up and they were starting to go in everyone’s pockets.”
Master Barber Elmurray Bookman–one of the two concealed permit holders who eventually opened fire–said that when one of the masked men asked his customer for money the customer told him it was over by another chair. When the men moved toward the other chair to retrieve the money, the customer opened fire and Bookman opened fire as well.
Bookman described it this way:
When he came to him for his money, he told him that his money was over there in the chair. When the guy walked over to the chair, that’s when he came out and shot. Then when he started shooting, I came out and started shooting.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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