Fox News may have some explaining to do after referring to the death of a would-be robber as being one of the victims of weekend homicides in Chicago, where at least nine other people were murdered in the continuing wave of violence.
According to the popular website heyjackass.com, so far this year 695 people have been killed in the Windy City.
But does a would-be armed robber belong on that list? According to a separate report at Fox News, a 77-year-old retired firefighter who is licensed to carry a concealed handgun “fatally shot a robber in broad daylight.” This happened midday Saturday as the older armed citizen was in a parking garage in the West Chesterfield neighborhood, Fox News detailed. He was confronted by a man who “pulled into the garage and demanded the elderly man fork over his possessions.”
Instead, the intended victim drew his own gun and opened fire, hitting the alleged criminal in the head and chest. The older man had a Firearms Owner Identification Card and concealed carry license, the report said. An investigation is underway.
If police clear this shooting as self-defense, the dead man probably does not belong in the crime logs as a “victim.” He made a fatal error in the victim-selection process, according to gun rights activists.
Meanwhile, Washington, D.C.’s body count hit 191, according to the police department’s website. Out in Milwaukee, the Journal-Sentinel says at least 174 people have been murdered so far this year, and in Baltimore, at least 289 people have been killed, according to WMAR News.
Seattle is another city administered by liberal city governments—that means they’re run by Democrats—and that city has seen 40 murders so far this year. It’s still shy of the 52 posted in 2020, but there are still almost two months remaining.
Portland has become a bloody stain on the Oregon map, with more than 72 slayings so far this year. Portland police rounded up one guy over the weekend who didn’t apparently kill anyone, but he’s in big trouble anyway because he was allegedly discharging a handgun, and the suspect was a felon in illegal possession of the pistol.
One thing consistently missing from police reports is whether guns recovered by police at crime scenes, or in the course of an investigation, are stolen.
One exception Liberty Park Press has found is with the Seattle Police Department. In recent weeks, that agency has recovered several stolen firearms, and they make a point of noting this face in their Police Blotter reports. Several handguns and at least one 12-gauge shotgun have been recovered over the past few months.
In one case, a man was arrested for robbery after he allegedly attempted to leave a story with about $200 in merchandise without paying. When the store manager confronted the suspect, the man reached toward his jacked, where the manager spotted a pistol. The manager knocked the gun out of the suspect’s hand, picked it up and ran back into the store, where the suspect tried to trade the stolen goods for the gun.
The suspect was a convicted felon, so it is clear he didn’t get that pistol by going through a background check.
