What can we learn from this situation?

[Guest kirkosaurus]

Check out this video of the attempted robbery and gunfight at Lewis Street Market last night:

Gun Fight Between Clerk, Robbers Caught On Tape - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports

Kudos for this guy for being armed and fighting back. I understand when under stress in this kind of situation things can get crazy but blindly shooting over an aisle while your fellow employee is over on the other side?? He's lucky he didn't kill his co-worker.

The guy looses his magazine while trying to chamber a round but he does a good job of getting it back in the gun and racking the slide. Another reason why you should ALWAYS carry with one in the chamber!

What else can we learn from this?

[Guest kirkosaurus]

This video has another angle:

http://www.wsmv.com/news/27219781/detail.html

He continued shooting as the guys retreated out the door. If he would have shot one of them he could've gotten in a lot of trouble.

[Erik88]

edited because I guess it's easy to keyboard quaterback the video.

I still think he should have had a round in the chamber and he definitely needs more practice with his weapon but the bottom line is that he is here to live another day. Maybe he'll learn from this encounter and make some changes.

Edited March 17, 2011 by Erik88

[Fallguy]

Well I'm glad he was armed and it was actually on him and not just in the store. Also kudos for moving toward the threat trying to stop it when they first came at him. That being said...not the best discipline I've seen afterwards, but I have never been in a similar situation and can't say for sure I would do any better after having been shot at, so I'm not really going to fault him much.

As far as him still shooting as they ran...IMO the thugs were still a threat as long as they were still in the store. They could have easily turned and fired again. Now if he would have pursued them out of the store, that may be a different question, but that isn't what he did.

Glad he he survived the encounter....

[Guest spoolie]

Don't carry a semi auto in your front pocket...use a holster dumbass.

[Guest Red5]

Two days later from the comfort of my keyboard it is easy to say he should have done this or shouldn't have done that. Bottom line is he had a gun, was prepared to use it, and he and his buddy were back at work the next day. Not bad considering and I can't say for certain that I would have done better.

I can say however, that my pistol would have been in a holster with one in the chamber.

[Farman]

It looked like the first thing after the draw was he hit the mag release, pick it up and put it back in. That's why he had to rack the slide. I think he did pretty dam* good concidering.

OK watched it again, he did rack after the "draw", then dropped the mag.

Still think he did OK!!

Edited March 17, 2011 by Farman

[Guest 6.8 AR]

He did what he was capable of, at the time. I imagine he will be better prepared for it the next time.

[Robk77]

Well he and his employee survived. Thats all that really matters.

[dats82]

I just wish he was a better shot. Maybe the thugs will learn the error of their ways, but somehow I find that doubtful.

[Guest Maelphaedor]

The channel 4 video mentions 7 years in the Iraqi Army, so that considered, he performed poorly. If he were just some random person with a gun, I'd say his ability was right on par, he had a very "gang banger" combat stance (read that as untrained), I'd have expected anyone in nearly any organized army to have a better ability.

That said, disecting the video afterward is always easier, so I don't fault him for not hitting anything. Entirely too many people would have failed to act at all. And as has been said, he and his employee survived, so worst case is that the fight was a draw. But if we got someone here that runs a good tactical class, they should definately consider swinging by his store and offering it to him. Make a little money AND get someone out there better trained/equipped to handle what that neighborhood can throw at ya. Win-win.

[JAB]

The channel 4 video mentions 7 years in the Iraqi Army...

I remember during Desert Storm that there were stories of large groups of regular Iraqi Army troops surrendering to one or two U.S. soldiers. It seems that the regular army had little training or desire to fight. Mostly, they were only 'in' the army because Hussein's government forced them to be. What I always heard was the the Republican Guard guys were the trained troops with the will to fight.

I remember one story from Desert Storm about American troops being approached by an 'enemy' combatant who was in the regular Iraqi army. The guy was wearing a Chicago Cubs hat and (iirc) shorts. As he walked up to them, grinning, he was reported to have said (with an American accent) something along the lines of, "What the hell took you guys so long?" Apparently, he was an American of Iraqi descent who had family in Iraq and had been in Iraq visiting that family when the war broke out - and had been forced into the Iraqi army by the Iraqi govenment.

Whatever the case, if I am ever in an SD shooting situation (and I fervently hope that I never am), I will be pleased if I and other innocent parties emerge alive and unharmed, the bad guys run away and, at the end of it all, I haven't soiled my pants. At least not obviously, anyway.

Edited March 18, 2011 by JAB

[RobertNashville]

I'm glad he and his friend or any other innocent wasn't hurt...it's too bad neither of these two thugs were hit...kudos to him for being armed and not simply bending over and taking it.

A good object lesson for why you carry one in the chamber AND, use a proper retainage system for your weapon (i.e. a holster).

Whatever training he's had, I'd say he could stand to have some more...maybe I wouldn't have done any better but I would certainly hope that I would (and hope I never have to find out)...he is damn lucky he didn't kill his friend or even worse, someone outside minding their own business.

[Will Carry]

He was frightened....but he had guts, I'll give him that. Glad he was OK. I'll bet he will do better next time.

[BigK]

I sincerely hope that there is no "next time" for this guy. Having a reputation as a business owner who'll fight back will hopefully minimize the likelihood.

Sadly, there are some thugs that may knowingly take a run at him anyway. I fear they will shoot first, unlike these thugs, who don't seem to have had any intention of killling him, despite him wrestling with them.

[LagerHead]

Any encounter you walk away from is a good one. Unfortunately the bad guys had a good encounter too.

[Guest kirkosaurus]

Looks like they caught one of them:

http://www.police.nashville.org/news/media/2011/03/18.htm

" Pierce was sentenced to 12 years in 2004 on six counts of aggravated robbery."

Let's see...2004 plus 12 years....and this is 2011....

Why was this guy even out on the streets?

[DAdams]

Third time he has gone through this and 7 years in the Iraq Army so he "is trained for this".

Think he needs a Benelli scattergun.

[tt0511]

It's amazing how the human mind thinks that a few shelves full of gum and candy is "cover". Why didn't he just shoot through the shelves? I'm really glad that no one got shot and it's amazing considering the way this was handled. The owner was shooting like a hollywood gangsta. I give him kudos for recognizing the serious threat presented by the hoodlums and for a quick draw on his concealed weapon but wonder why in the world a round wasn't chambered.

[Guest carter]

well... coming from a first hand experience... he did ok I think... hell I’m glad he didn’t pick up that snickers bar thinking it was the magazine lol your adrenalin takes 2.7 seconds to kick in... and its full on craziness... hell the other night i just happened to look out my window...and saw a bicycle laying on its side in my driveway, mind you its like 3:30 or so in the morning... and first thing I did was grab my gun, flash light, and cell phone...I was like o hell here we go... I was all pumped up searching thru the house...looked in all rooms...called the police... 3 police officers show up FINALLY (seemed like it took for ever) cut my flood lights on, I’m peaking out the window and they go thru my yard guns drawn, I did tell the dispatcher that I was armed... she advised me to put it away... I only did that when the officer knocked on my door, even though no one was found or anything tampered with it was a scary scene, I was talking with them in the drive way (I knew 2 of the officers) and glanced over...and saw my GPS light up in the truck...and was like I BET that’s what they wanted, I had forgotten to cut it off. in any case I was not going outside to confront anyone... but if they came in... they where not walking out