Good Guy with a Gun #236: Dayton, OH
He wanted the truck. Both men were shot. The cops say let it go. Maybe right. Maybe not. | Original incident: June 24, 2024
These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is somewhat updated from the calendar version.
I think these two news articles describe the same incident, but the overlapping information is just sparse enough that I could be wrong. Let me tell it how I think it happened.
At about a quarter after ten in the morning, a man was clearing away branches at an abandoned property near the intersection of West 5th St and South James H. McGee Boulevard in Dayton. He had a truck and a trailer.
Another man tried to steal his truck. The owner drew his weapon and ordered the man out of the truck; the other man drew his own gun and fired, and then the owner fired back.
Both men were wounded. The truck owner stuck around for the police; the would-be thief fled, but went to the hospital when he realized he needed treatment, and the cops picked him up there.
It just goes to show you that having a gun doesn’t mean you’re always going to win, but in this case it did lead to the thief’s capture. The Dayton police weren’t very happy about it, though, telling the public that they should let thieves take their stuff and work with law enforcement to find the criminal post facto.
On the one hand, I can see the argument: Stuff isn’t worth your life. On the other hand: No, people shouldn’t take your stuff — and it seems possible that this vehicle was this man’s livelihood, if he were a landscaper or the like — and you don’t usually know if someone is armed unless you confront them.
This is a personal call, and I’ll let you decide which call you’d make.
Sources
I can find only two sources that touch on this, and neither gives the complete picture.
WDTN 2 tells us about the shooting, but not about the context; it has video, but there’s not much to tell.
Dayton 24/7 Now is the better piece, with more detail, but the only video they have is a grouchy Dayton police officer telling people to let the criminals get away with it. He might even be right in many circumstances, but I found myself really disliking his tone. Maybe I’m just a stubborn cuss.
Also, this advice is open encouragement for thieves. All they need to do if the owners cooperate is to pull off the heist and fence what they stole before the cops arrive. Maybe harder in some circumstances than in others, but the knowledge that they won't face armed resistance has to be an incentive to try to pull it off. Ugh.
The two of you will get a kick out of today's story (i.e., the one after this) -- because of the parents. :)