(MO) Victim wrenches shotgun from carjacker

[Drizzt]

Victim wrenches shotgun from carjacker

By Jeremy Kohler
Of The Post-Dispatch
Michele Munz Of The Post-Dispatch Contributed To This Report.

He tossed them his wallet.

He told four angry-looking young men that they could take what they wanted: his 1996 GMC Yukon, parked in the 3600 block of Winnebago Street in St. Louis just after 1 a.m. Wednesday.

"I say, 'Yo, dog, you all can have this,'" the robbery victim, 25, explained later.

But he heard one of the robbers, holding a shotgun, ask his buddies, "Yo, what you want me to do with this guy?"

The guy said kill him.

The victim, who agreed to be interviewed without use of his name, said his mind raced. He thought of his 6-year-old son growing up without a father. He figured he had about one second to live.

He used that second, he told police, to grab the shotgun and push the man holding it into another carrying a Tec-9 assault weapon. The second robber tried to fire but the gun failed.

The victim said he ran behind his Yukon. The robbers taunted him. No shells in that shotgun, they said. They lied. He fired three blasts, and they scattered.

By now they were too far to hit with a shotgun. But he had more firepower: a 9mm handgun he says he carries for protection.

He pumped off four shots in rapid succession -- aiming high to miss, he said. The robbers piled into the car they'd pulled up in, an Oldsmobile Alero, and sped west on Winnebago.

"They wanted to murder me," the victim said Wednesday. "After I did what they asked me to do. I'm glad to be alive. I'm glad to still be here. To see my son."

Residents of the block called police and described the Alero, which had been stolen from Lambert Field. St. Louis police chased it south on Interstate 55 into Jefferson County, radioing ahead for help.

Festus police were ready. As the speeding car approached the exit for southbound Highway 67, officers tossed a strip of hollow spikes onto the pavement. The car slowed to a stop near Jefferson Memorial Hospital as the tires went flat.

The four men scattered.

One was caught near the hospital in Crystal City. Another was caught at a 7-Eleven store in Festus. Jefferson County sheriff's deputies nabbed the other two on the highway.

Later Wednesday, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce charged two adults from St. Louis with first-degree attempted robbery, armed criminal action and felony resisting by flight. They are Bryon Jones, 26, of the 7400 block of Calvin Avenue and Branden Jones, 17, of the 4000 block of Connecticut Street. The Joneses are unrelated.

The status of the two minors could not be determined.

Police confirmed the victim's account.

Investigators recovered the assault weapon, which police said the suspects tossed out the window during the chase, and a .38-caliber revolver found in the Alero. They were still searching for a .22-caliber pistol the suspects said they also discarded.

Police Chief Joe Mokwa said Wednesday that the city has seen 98 cases of auto theft involving a gun over the past six months. "There have been enough episodes of violence that they get people's attention," he said.

Among them:

* A man fatally shot by an off-duty city detective in thwarting what police are calling an attempted carjacking Friday night.

* A man from Indianapolis killed when carjackers opened fire just south of downtown last month.

* A former Marine who had just joined the Border Patrol killed in May for his Lexus coupe when his attempt to escape got blocked on a dead-end street.

Police generally advise victims to do follow carjackers' instructions. St. Louis County police Officer Mason Keller pointed to two recent cases in the Affton area that ended peacefully that way.

"You have to do what you feel is best for the situation to keep you and your family and friends safe," Keller said. "You just have to pick the best option out of whatever options are available to you."

Mokwa said most carjackers are usually groups of young men wanting cars for their accesso ries, such as expensive tires. They do not intend to kill, he said, but most are armed and unpredictable.

"They are not thoughtful enough to think of what their behavior might accelerate into," he said. "And they have no remorse if they do have to shoot."

Wednesday morning's victim was no easy target. He is a former college football linebacker, weighing 245 pounds, who is a workout enthusiast and carries a weapon because he runs a liquor store with his father and often transports cash.

"Now every time I come outside I have to fear for myself," he lamented. "I don't know how to live or carry my life well. I can't buy nice things because someone might try to take it from me."

He added, "I'm going to do everything I can to help the prosecutors so those guys never do this to anyone else."

http://home.post-dispatch.com/channe...A?OpenDocument

'just give them what they want....' yeah, right

[Torquemada]

They said they'd kill him. The "second robber tried to fire but the gun failed." (Tec 9 assault weapon)
<snip>
No shells in that shotgun, they said. They lied. He fired three blasts, and they scattered.
<snip>
He pumped off four shots in rapid succession -- aiming high to miss, he said. (with his 9mm).

They got caught, OK. The victim didn't get hurt, OK. Seven unaccounted-for rounds in a presumably very urban environment, not OK.

VPC/HCI/Brady Bunch is still doing damage - that the victim chose to carry is admirable but he was (afraid? didn't want to shoot fleeing felons? who might have more firepower in the car or tried to run him down?) conditioned to "shoot to miss."

[tyme]

Fine except for:

He pumped off four shots in rapid succession -- aiming high to miss, he said. The robbers piled into the car they'd pulled up in, an Oldsmobile Alero, and sped west on Winnebago.

That's a no-no. Should have shot at them to prevent what could have been assault by vehicle and tec-9.