Clerk Fires on Robbery Crew, Then Loses His Job Anyway

A gas-station clerk in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, opened fire on armed robbers who rammed a stolen minivan into the storefront to tear out an ATM, then rushed him inside the store.

Snapshot

American Rifleman's Armed Citizen column this week covers an early-morning robbery attempt at an Ohio convenience store, paired with a 1987 archive case from a Milwaukee grocery. In both, an armed store owner or employee stopped an attacker who had already shown he meant to use force.

Key points

• The setup: Around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, robbers repeatedly drove a stolen white minivan into the front of a Cuyahoga Falls store to break loose the ATM, then ran inside toward the clerk.
• The response: The clerk fired several shots as the suspects rushed him; all fled, with at least three escaping in a second stolen minivan.
• The outcome: Police arrested a 25-year-old suspect with gang ties on foot; he faces robbery, vandalism and receiving stolen property charges. The clerk told reporters he didn't feel endangered until the group rushed the store, and he lost his job over the incident.
• The archive case: In 1987, Milwaukee grocer Jamal Masoed was beaten with a concrete chunk by a man who'd already hit two other stores; Masoed grabbed a handgun from under the counter and fired twice, critically wounding his attacker.

Quick take

Neither of these cases is a clean, simple story. The Ohio clerk stopped a violent robbery crew but still lost his livelihood for it, a reminder that American Rifleman's Armed Citizen entries don't gloss over the messy aftermath that can follow a defensive shooting, even a justified one. The Milwaukee case shows the same pattern decades apart: a storeowner forced to fight for his life once an attacker closed the distance and turned to violence.

Read the full story: americanrifleman.org