Clerk Fires on ATM-Ramming Gang, Then Loses His Job Anyway

A gas-station clerk in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio opened fire on a crew ramming a minivan through his storefront to rip out the ATM, and American Rifleman's latest Armed Citizen roundup pairs that case with a 1987 Milwaukee grocer who fought off an attacker beating him with a chunk of concrete.

Snapshot

American Rifleman's Nov. 9 Armed Citizen entry covers a predawn ATM-ramming robbery at an Ohio gas station and digs up a 1987 archive case of a Milwaukee grocery owner who shot his attacker after being beaten with concrete. Both cases ended with the armed defender stopping the threat, though the Ohio clerk later lost his job over the incident.

Key points

• Ohio incident: Around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 2, a Cuyahoga Falls clerk heard a white minivan repeatedly rammed into the storefront to knock loose the ATM.
• Clerk fires: When the robbers rushed into the store toward him, the clerk fired several shots, scattering the suspects, some of whom fled in a second, brown minivan.
• Arrest and charges: Police caught a 25-year-old suspect who fled on foot, tied him to a known gang, and charged him with robbery, vandalism and receiving stolen property; both minivans had been stolen out of Cleveland.
• Clerk's account: He told reporters he didn't feel endangered until the group rushed the store, and said he acted to protect himself, his coworkers and the store, despite later losing his job over the shooting.
• 1987 archive case: Milwaukee grocer Jamal Masoed was knocked to the floor and beaten with a piece of concrete by a man on a multi-store robbery spree before grabbing a handgun from under the counter and firing twice, critically wounding his attacker.

Quick take

These two cases, nearly 40 years apart, show the same basic pattern Armed Citizen has tracked for decades: ordinary people behind a counter facing sudden violence and having to decide, in seconds, whether to draw. Neither story is simple or clean, the Ohio clerk paid a real cost even after stopping the threat, which is worth sitting with rather than cheering past.

Read the full story: americanrifleman.org