A gas station clerk working in Phoenix, Arizona ended an attempted robbery early Wednesday morning after he fired upon a suspect who allegedly held both him and a customer at gunpoint.
Nice… Remember – Arizona is a right-to-carry state, don't need government permission to protect yourself. Just like the 2nd amendment intended 🇺🇲
Armed Arizona gas station clerk shoots robber who pointed gun at customershttps://t.co/KLYs6ceCFp
— AZ_JC (@jchowland) January 19, 2023
The clerk, who reports called Brian, told Fox 10 that a customer wearing a mask came into the store before pointing a gun at him and mumbling the words “rob” and “money.”
“The moment he pointed the gun at me, it was pretty obvious what he was there for,” he said to the outlet.
“In all reality, he didn’t need to say anything,” he continued. “The moment he pointed the gun at me, it was pretty obvious what he was there for.”
Brian reportedly drew his own firearm after the armed suspect turned his weapon toward a customer. He then fired at the suspect once, according to reports.
“The suspect became distracted by another person in the store and the store employee took the opportunity to pull out and use his own firearm, shooting and injuring the suspect,” police reported in a statement.
This news comes not long after police in Houston, Texas announced their search for an armed civilian who was seen on camera shooting and killing an alleged armed robber and returning the stolen money to customers at a local restaurant.
A legal expert of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office weighed in on the event earlier this month, arguing the shooting was likely justified.
Brian told reporters that as a graveyard shift worker, he makes a point to be situationally aware and “trains” for these types of scenarios.
Other recent examples of armed civilians destroying an active threat include a woman fatally shooting an AR-15-armed man who was firing at a crowd attending a West Virginia birthday/graduation party in May 2022, and July 2022 when a young man stopped an active mass shooting in Greenwood, Indiana after three people were tragically killed during the murderous rampage.
