An armed robbery suspect who entered a convenience store pointing a gun at the clerk was shot and subdued by a concealed carry permit holder.
The incident occurred at the 54 Food Mart in Pasco County, Florida, around 6:40 a.m on January 26.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the suspect, 30-year-old Christopher Lilly, entered the store with a gun drawn and ordered the clerk and a customer “into the walk-in cooler.” Once inside, the customer–a concealed carry permit holder–passed his gun to the clerk, who then “exited the cooler and fired a warning shot.”
Lilly dropped his gun and the clerk and customer moved to physically subdue him. As they did, “Lilly tried to reach for his dropped gun.” So the concealed permit holder “reclaimed his weapon and shot Lilly in the right thigh.”
A passerby dialed 911 and a deputy arrived as Lilly was trying to wrestle himself loose and flee the store.
Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Doll said Lilly “had a domestic violence injunction filed against him, so he could not legally possess a gun.” Moreover, Lilly had 11 previous arrests, “all in Pasco and Hillsborough counties.” He did two months in jail on battery charges in 2012.
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco praised the concealed permit holder’s actions, saying, “If you’re in a life-or-death situation you absolutely have your God-given right in Pasco County to defend yourselves.”
On January 12 the New York Times editorial board wrote against national reciprocity legislation that would allow citizens to be armed for self-defense in more places. The paper claimed, “The grim truth is that concealed-carry permit holders are rarely involved in stopping crime.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.