Would you shoot at a fleeing bank robber like this guy?

[nogods]

what would you do?

It's the morning of Christmas Eve. You are in a bank to transact some business. Two men enter the bank waving handguns and yelling for everyone to put their hands in the air. Caught off guard you comply like everyone else.

The robbers get a bag of money and then run out of the bank.

You run out after them and draw your weapon.

You know the law of NYS allows you to shoot and kill a fleeing robbery suspect. But do you shoot?

Link Removed Fortunately he didn't hit anyone else either.

I'm not going to fire my weapon in that situation.

First there is he risk of injury to an innocent bystander, for which I could be prosecuted for negligent homicide if an innocent person dies.

Second, I'm not the bank's security guard or the police. Let them catch the robbers and recover the bank's money.

Even if I hit the robbers my life will be substantially changed from such an event and I'm not willing to subject myself and my family to that stress for a bank's property.

The Wyatt Earp wannabe will probably lose his permit over this incident.

 

[442js]

what would you do?

It's the morning of Christmas Eve. You are in a bank to transact some business. Two men enter the bank waving handguns and yelling for everyone to put their hands in the air. Caught off guard you comply like everyone else.

The robbers get a bag of money and then run out of the bank.

You run out after them and draw your weapon.

You know the law of NYS allows you to shoot and kill a fleeing robbery suspect. But do you shoot?

Link Removed Fortunately he didn't hit anyone else either.

I'm not going to fire my weapon in that situation.

First there is he risk of injury to an innocent bystander, for which I could be prosecuted for negligent homicide if an innocent person dies.

Second, I'm not the bank's security guard or the police. Let them catch the robbers and recover the bank's money.

Even if I hit the robbers my life will be substantially changed from such an event and I'm not willing to subject myself and my family to that stress for a bank's property.

The Wyatt Earp wannabe will probably lose his permit over this incident.

No way would I shoot. Moment they are running away (and assuming they are just running away), immediate threat of harm is over. Time to call the police with as much information as possible, and that is it. I probably wouldn't have even run out of the bank after them. They leave, 911 gets a call.

 

[hatchet19]

I agree...there's no way in hell I would take shots at a fleeing bad guy. I'm not a leo. That's what they get paid for. Although I might secretly want to.:redface:

hatchet

 

[Bighouse Doc]

If you run out, get a cell-phone photo instead of shooting after them. That will be more help to the cops.

-Doc

 

[Treo]

what would you do?

It's the morning of Christmas Eve. You are in a bank to transact some business. Two men enter the bank waving handguns and yelling for everyone to put their hands in the air. Caught off guard you comply like everyone else.

The robbers get a bag of money and then run out of the bank.

You run out after them and draw your weapon.

See that's where I deviate from the OP I'm not going to chase the bad guys out of the bank. As the OP states I'm not a cop, I'm not bank security and my CHP didn't come w/ a bat cape.

Good witness, observe & report

 

[handgonnetoter]

:no:Thats the kind of crap that will get all of us permit holders in hot water. Way to go tough guy.

 

[mpohio]

Yep, no threat on your life anymore!! The clown should lose his gun rights so the rest of us don't!!

 

[NavyLCDR]

Why is there such animosity towards this person? Obviously his actions were justified in his state:

No charges have been filed against the customer who fired the shots.

and

But after interviewing him at length about the incident, they did not charge him.

His shots would have been justified in Washington, as well:
RCW 9A.16.050: Homicide

RCW 9A.16.050
Homicide — By other person — When justifiable.

Homicide is also justifiable when committed either:

(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony

and

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9A.16.020

RCW 9A.16.020
Use of force — When lawful.

The use, attempt, or offer to use force upon or toward the person of another is not unlawful in the following cases:

(1) Whenever necessarily used by a public officer in the performance of a legal duty, or a person assisting the officer and acting under the officer's direction;

(2) Whenever necessarily used by a person arresting one who has committed a felony and delivering him or her to a public officer competent to receive him or her into custody;

Personally, I won't make judgmental statements regarding the person in question. I will say that his actions were justified. IF he would have actually hit the suspect which resulted in the criminals' apprehension or death, how many of the same previous posters here would say, Good! The criminal got what he deserved, justice was done.

In simple answer to the OP's first question, without making less than honorable comments about losing rights and wyatt erp, I will say that I would not chase the criminals and shoot at them.

Remember, the Brady Campaign says exactly the same things about ALL people who carry guns that you are saying about this JUSTIFIED shoot! Maybe we should attempt to conduct ourselves on a higher level than the Brady Bunch does.

 

[mpohio]

It's not justified to endanger innocent people. It was an idiotic cowboy move. Apparently he wasn't a good shot either, as he missed everyone. He is lucky he missed as if he would have hit one of them or a bystander, legal or not, his butt would have been sued for everything he had. He would have single handedly set back conceal carry for decades. Headlines would have read. "Rogue cowboy guns down innocent bystanders"

The threat was over as the badguys were fleeing. Who knows if they might have retunred fire. Cops arriving on the scene could have mistaken him for a Badguy and shot him dead.... Too many variables with no imminent danger. Your right to carry, is to protect yourself and those around you. A cop wouldn't even do that on a bad day.

In other words Common sense, USE YOUR FRICKIN HEAD!!

 

[Treo]

It's not justified to endanger innocent people. It was an idiotic cowboy move. Apparently he wasn't a good shot either, as he missed everyone.

First of all I want to say that I agree that the shooter acted rashly and reiterate that I would not have done as he did in the same situation.

Having said that I would invite mpohio to undergo a similar adrenalin dump take off running add to it the fact that for possibly the first time ever you are actually shooting at another human being and see how well you do.

 

[santa]

there is no way i would shoot

 

[Oldgrunt]

Like NavyLT, I won't comment on the individual, only make comments about what I think I might do. Since the BG had left the premises, I would try to remember as much about the incident as possible to tell the police. I don't care if it would legal for me to act, I would not do so unless the BG started shooting in the bank. After he has left is no time for the ordinary citizen to run out and start shooting. Just because it is legal to act doesn't mean you should if you are no longer in danger. I don't feel that not acting is a reflection on my manhood but more a testament to the use of common sense.:no:

 

[NavyLCDR]

The threat was over as the badguys were fleeing.

The threat was over to whom? I'm sure after this incident the bad guy is going to retire and do no harm to anyone else. The threat is not over. The threat escaped.

And you weren't there. You don't know IF there were any innocent bystanders around to be hit or not. Maybe our "cowboy", maybe our "wyatt erp" had the presence of mind to assess the situation and was reasonably assured that there were no bystanders in the line of fire. We simply don't know if that was the case or not.

Would I have followed the criminal out of the bank? No, I can't imagine that I would. Will I fault someone else for doing it and call them childish names? No, because I wasn't there to see the totality of their actions.

 

[kelcarry]

I agree with the replies. In SC, at night, you do have the right to shoot to kill after you have confronted a perp for a citizens arrest, based on suspicion that he had a design to commit a felony, and he tries to escape from your arrest. Different scenario but just change the thread to " would you shoot a fleeing robber at night?" I probably would not but Section 17-13-20 of the SC Code of Laws says you can.

 

[HootmonSccy]

You know the law of NYS allows you to shoot and kill a fleeing robbery suspect. But do you shoot?

Is this really true? Am I the ONLY one that does NOT "know" this law??? IF it IS true, then NYS laws are even more DUMB than I thought!!

As a Federal officer I was always trained NOT to shoot a fleeing felon, unless they were endangering others or leaving a facility that had nuclear material.

IF an officer should not shoot a fleeing felon then I certainly would not..

 

[Edsworld]

Don't shoot him, that way he can kill his next victim. :hang3:

 

[Rocketgeezer]

If the circumstances were as said I would not shoot, But if this A***OLE had shot at me or mine at anytime during the incident, I cannot say for sure but I don't think I would have missed

 

[handgonnetoter]

Why is there such animosity towards this person? Obviously his actions were justified in his state:



and



His shots would have been justified in Washington, as well:
RCW 9A.16.050: Homicide



and

RCW 9A.16.020: Use of force



Personally, I won't make judgmental statements regarding the person in question. I will say that his actions were justified. IF he would have actually hit the suspect which resulted in the criminals' apprehension or death, how many of the same previous posters here would say, Good! The criminal got what he deserved, justice was done.

In simple answer to the OP's first question, without making less than honorable comments about losing rights and wyatt erp, I will say that I would not chase the criminals and shoot at them.

Remember, the Brady Campaign says exactly the same things about ALL people who carry guns that you are saying about this JUSTIFIED shoot! Maybe we should attempt to conduct ourselves on a higher level than the Brady Bunch does.

Not exactly. The idea is that he is responsible for all those rounds he fired, and seeing that showed me that his shots went wild and could have hit somebody else. If the police want to shoot rapidly like that, then so be it. We are not the police and the already sceptical public will hold us even more accountable for those shots fired. I am all for some dude like that getting what he deserves, but not at the expense of others possibly getting hit in the crossfire. If the guy would have went in there and started shooting people for the fun of it, then I even might have wanted to shoot at him running away, but that does not seem to be the case here.

 

[Treo]

The threat was over to whom? I'm sure after this incident the bad guy is going to retire and do no harm to anyone else. The threat is not over. The threat escaped.

And you weren't there. You don't know IF there were any innocent bystanders around to be hit or not. Maybe our "cowboy", maybe our "wyatt erp" had the presence of mind to assess the situation and was reasonably assured that there were no bystanders in the line of fire. We simply don't know if that was the case or not.

Would I have followed the criminal out of the bank? No, I can't imagine that I would. Will I fault someone else for doing it and call them childish names? No, because I wasn't there to see the totality of their actions.

The reason I disagree w/ this guy’s actions is because I carry a handgun for self defense not to enforce the law and not to apprehend criminals. Chasing and/or detaining bad guys isn't w/in the scope of my practice. It’s not something I’m trained or qualified to do.

 

[stingray2100]

Well here are my 2 cents.

Whould I shoot at robers that are running away from a bank robery. If I'm not in danger anymore and nobody in the bank is in danger. Probably not.

Now back to the person that had the CCW and shot at the robers 5 times.

Well first it is hard to shoot while moving even if you train for this. Also he may have been overcompensating due to stress and trying to be safe and not shoot anyone.

I would not bash him since I was not there and I also did not walk in his shoes that day.

Everyone that has a CCW has to qualify and demonstrate that you can shoot accurate and handle a gun safely. But almost no one trains after you get your CCW.

so here again I would say.

Train as much real life scenarios as you can.
Train shooting and moving and moving to cover.

again. I would not bash the guy. it is easy to say stuff in hines sight.
leasantry: