The Wild West Shootout in Marysville
When two shoplifting suspects attempted to get away with pilfered merchandise from Coastal Farm and Ranch store late Saturday afternoon, they sparked a shootout.
The thieves were in the process of trying to flee with stolen power tools when they are approached by a man who flashed his gun and tried to stop them.
The thieves leapt into their car and sped away, striking the man with the get-away-car.
Then, two other armed civilians in the parking lot opened fire on the car, shooting out two tires.
Monica Medina, who was taking a customer’s order at a nearby restaurant said the shots sounded,
“Like pow pow pow!” said Medina “When I hear it, I go outside in the kitchen (sic).”
Customers and shop owners took shelter inside their businesses.
“It was weird. It was weird. All I heard was ‘bang, bang, bang” like that and I saw a gal running to her car,” said Davin Tuninga from where she was inside Wagner Jewelers.
No one was injured by the shooting according to police, but Tuninga doesn’t know if the shooting was justified,
“Good that they did that. But what if there had been kids around?” she said.
Police tracked the vehicle down a few blocks away where the shoplifters had abandoned the disabled vehicle.
K-9 units where brought in and the thieves where quickly located and arrested for felony robbery charges.
The two armed citizens departed the scene before officers arrived and Marysville PD is requesting they come forward to speak to investigators about what happened.
What do you think of this shooting? Should these armed citizens have fired on a fleeing vehicle?
It’s important to remember that unless you are certain the person fleeing you is going to hurt or kill someone else if you don’t stop them, it will be difficult to explain the shooting to a jury why you are justified.
If a criminal changes their mind and decides to flee instead, are you in the right to shoot them?
Leave us a comment below to let us know what you think.
Yes, I believe you have not only a right, but an obligation to the good people that fall victim to these low lifes. If criminals were confronted more often they might think twice about their wrongful activity. Confronting criminals is not for everybody. It is dangerous for you as well as innocent bystanders. You should have some training in handling these type of situations before opening fire on criminals. You should never shoot anyone in the back and understand that your bullet could go clean through the criminal and hit someone innocent. As far as shooting of tires and radiators of fleeing criminals, I have done this with success, but only with no one else nearby. Some thieves tried to run me down at my farm with their pickup loaded with my stuff. I put a bullet in the front of their pickup and the law found them about 10 miles down the road.