Store Clerk Responds To Gun With A Gun
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 7 months ago
Bad idea: holding up a store clerk who happens to be proficient in firearms.
Worse idea: holding up a store clerk who is not only proficient in firearms, but who also happens to be an Iraq war veteran and a former prison guard and private investigator.
Jon Lewis Alexander, 54, is no ordinary store clerk. He has worked several “high risk” jobs and served four tours of duty in Iraq during his 30 years in the U.S. military.
And his training shows.
Video surveillance from Saturday night captures the moment a would-be thief entered the Marionville, Mo., store where Alexander works. The thief hesitates for a moment and pulls a gun — but not fast enough to dissuade Alexander from pulling his own Walther PPX 9 mm handgun and sticking it in the hapless thief’s mouth.
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Alexander said the man walked in smoking a cigarette, which he was promptly told to put out. The thief then reached for his gun and demanded “all the (expletive deleted) money,” News-Leader.com reports.
The veteran reacted quickly, throwing down the thief’s arm. Alexander then drew his own weapon and, according to the report, threatened to “blow his (expletive deleted) head off.”
Pistol at his side, the thief backed away slowly and then bolted from the store. The store clerk remembers being amused by the fact that he “didn’t even bother holstering his weapon.”
Seriously. In the dude’s mouth. “Here boy. Taste the business end of the gun.” On a serious note, he responded very quickly to the threat. His actions were seamless, fast, determined and confident. I hope I react the same way to any potential threat.
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On September 5, 2013 at 12:35 pm, Mike said:
Should have shot him. That guy can now go on to victimize someone who is less prepared to defend themselves.
On September 6, 2013 at 11:34 am, Lyle said:
Mike;You probably shouldn’t assassinate people just because you think they might go somewhere else and victimize someone else. Once the immediate threat is retreating, your claim to self defense has gone away. I suppose that at the very moment the clerk’s gun went up and acquired its target, some people would have fired, but as with any of this Monday morning quarterbacking stuff, you’d have to have been there. There are all kinds of communication going on in that video that we can’t see.
Anyway; that perp will no doubt be thinking twice before trying a stunt like that again. Hopefully he’ll be seriously re-thinking his lifestyle choices.
On September 6, 2013 at 1:12 pm, Seerak said:
On a serious note, he responded very quickly to the threat.
Really? In context, that draw took forEVER.
The perp gets his gun out slowly. Alexander reaches out and taps it down — he does not gain control over it (you can see his hand waving in air after the gun goes outside his reach). I’m expecting an immediate reaction by the robber, to back up and whip his gun back on target.
But oddly, nothing happens. The perp doesn’t react to the play for his gun at all, he just leaves it down and keeps leaning in. WTF? Alexander has all the time in the world to reach for, grasp, and draw his weapon.
It’s pretty plain that the robber was drunk or stoned, or just plain stupid. If he’d been hopped up on meth, or even just sober and a bit jumpy, that gun comes back up well before Alexander clears leather… and extra agitated now.
I hope I react the same way to any potential threat.
If you do, I hope you’re as lucky as he is, too. Alexander is alive because the perp was strangely slow and stupid.
On September 6, 2013 at 4:22 pm, Orion said:
Seerak –
As Lyle points out, Monday Morning Quarterbacking is easy. But my guess is that the perp was shocked to find someone resisting and hesitated. Then, by the time he had gotten around to thinking he should do more than just wave his pistol around, he was wondering why his lips were all busted up and noting that a Glock has a very metallic taste for being tactical tupperware.
Personally, the training I’ve done it’s draw, aim, shoot immediately, so I hope I’d pull the trigger upon acquiring the target, but you never know until you’re actually there. I’d be thrilled if I did as well as this guy did.
Orion
On September 7, 2013 at 6:23 am, agathis said:
After an experience like that, I’d be surprised if that guy ever tried to hold up a store again. I bet he had to change his shorts when he got home.