He yelled at them to stop and when they found the door blocked, they turned toward him and began running for the door he was standing in front of. He again yelled for them to stop and when they did not, he fired 4 shots into the ground. At that point they turned again and crashed through the blocked door. A few minutes later the local SO arrived and while searching the area outside the business found one man laying in a pool of blood DRT. One bullet had ricocheted of the floor, hit a steam table and severed the femoral artery. He made it less than 50 feet. The second suspect also caught a ricochet in the shoulder. Since both entry wounds were from the back, the owner was charged with homicide.
The men turned out to be high school seniors who were having a party in a cabin down the lake. They had entered the business three times that night to steal booze and food. The trial lasted about a week and the owner was found innocent. It cost him $75,000.00 in legal fees and then he had to face a wrongful death civil case which cost him another $30,000.00. During the year long ordeal, he had a nervous breakdown and spent time in a mental hospital. He ended up losing the business and all his savings.
During the trial he remarked to me that if he had known what was coming, he would have let them burn the place down. The surviving thug told a reporter, "I'll bet people think twice about shooting next time."
