Conyers, GA Shopper shoots knife-wielding robber

News Article: http://www.rockdalenews.com/archives/4923/

Verified personal account we acquired from the victim:

I was at a friend’s place getting ready to play Dungeons and Dragons and borrowed my friend’s car to head to the nearest grocery store, an Ingles less than a mile away, to pick up some drinks for the night. I had my revolver (a Taurus .357 magnum) in a Fobus paddle holster covered up with an untucked polo shirt at the time. I parked approximately in the third row from the front near the entrance at about 8pm when it was still fairly busy. As I turned off the ignition a man came to the door and asked if I had any money I could give him for gas, after I told him I didn’t have any cash he started to walk off as if to ask someone else.

As I proceeded to exit the car, I kept an eye on him, which in hindsight probably was their plan, and I didn’t notice the second man come from behind and pull a knife and put it to my throat. The first man came back and tried grabbing the keys from my hand. There was a second or two before I realized what was happening while they were telling me to hand over the keys and my wallet. The first thing that popped into my head was I had to get my revolver out so. I dropped the keys that I was holding in my left hand (I believe the first man might have grabbed them then because I was told they were found several yards away from the car) and grabbed the knife and pulled the knife away enough for me to elbow the man with the knife and get a few feet away.

He must have seen me reaching for something because he came and tried to grab me again just as I managed to draw the revolver and I proceeded to fire three shots until he turned to run away, collapsing after a few steps. I turned around with the revolver still drawn and saw the other attempted thief running away. I then holstered my weapon and dialed 911, only to have an off duty officer pulling in for an unrelated security detail. Some others in the parking lot flagged him down.

I was briefly detained, after having the officer secure the weapon, before I could even finish describing what happened to the dispatcher. With all of the adrenaline it took a few minutes before I noticed I suffered cuts to my hands and wrists as well as one on my neck (requiring a few stitches). After a trip to the hospital and the sheriff’s office to fill out a report I was free to go and it was announced that would be no charges for me soon thereafter.