An armed citizen in San Antonio, Texas is being credited with shooting one of two armed jewelry store robbers Sunday afternoon at the Rolling Oaks Mall after that bandit allegedly gunned down an unarmed citizen who tried to intervene.
According to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, speaking to reporters outside the mall, “What we have here is a robbery gone really, really bad.”
The armed citizen who shot one of the robbers is legally licensed to carry, McManus noted. The other suspect fled from the mall, shooting wildly as he ran, according to published reports. At least seven other people were reportedly wounded, according to NBC News.
The bandits attempted to rob the Kay Jewelry store, according to KABB/WOAI. The identities of the slain Good Samaritan and the wounded robber were not immediately released. Likewise, police have not identified the armed citizen.
This is just the latest incident in recent history when an armed citizen intervened in a crime or attack in a public place. Last September, a firearms instructor and part-time police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding would-be terrorist who had stabbed nine people at the Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
An armed citizen in Arizona shot and killed a man who was beating an Arizona state trooper earlier this month, according to KABC in Los Angeles. The armed citizen was a passerby and witnessed a fight between the trooper and the suspect.
In November, another armed citizen intervened in a brutal struggle involving a motorist and a Lee County, Florida sheriff’s deputy. In that case, the citizen also killed the suspect.
An estimated 15 million private citizens are licensed to carry across the United States. More than a million of those legally armed citizens live in Texas. There is currently legislation in Congress that would create national concealed carry reciprocity.
