These posts are based on our Good Guy with a Gun calendar. Today’s post is essentially the same as the calendar version. As with yesterday’s post, this is from January 2024, not September.1
A 17-year-old walked into the Taco Burrito King in Belmont Cragin around 9:35 on a Monday night. CWBChicago called him a “well-known troublemaker,” though I don’t know whether it was the police or the newsroom calling him that.
The “boy” showed a gun and demanded the cash from the register. The clerk complied.
There was also a man in the restaurant with a concealed carry license. He drew and fired…and missed. The bullets went through the restaurant’s window, where the holes were still visible afterward.
I might poke fun at him about needing range time, but his shots had a salutary effect. The robber bolted in a black SUV. He made it about half a mile before he wrecked it, ran from the crash on foot, and was arrested there. Officers recovered a gun.
Police said he’d gotten a graze wound during the robbery, but then said he hadn’t. He was said to be in fair condition in the hospital, though; maybe he was wounded in the crash.
CPD’s media statement called the man who fired a “male victim.” For a Chicago gun owner, that’s pretty good. The window couldn’t be reached for comment.
Sources
News
Concealed carry holder shoots at armed robber at taco stand: Chicago police (CWBChicago)
CCL holder shoots at armed robber who held up Taco Burrito King (FOX 32 Chicago)
Concealed carry holder shoots at 17-year-old armed robber at Taco Burrito King: police (WGN-TV)
Shots fired at teenage armed robbery suspect on Chicago’s Northwest Side (CBS Chicago)
Belmont Cragin robbery: Teen shot at by CCL holder after robbing restaurant, arrested, CPD says (ABC7 Chicago)
Teen arrested after being shot at during restaurant heist, crashing SUV in Belmont Cragin (Chicago Sun-Times)
2A / specialist media
The aggregator Hoodline reported on this story. Teen Robbery Suspect Arrested After Crash Following Belmont Cragin Restaurant Holdup
TheBlaze covered this one inside a roundup of ten Chicago concealed-carry incidents.
In the desk calendar, every incident comes from the year I’m reporting from — the 2026 calendar has 2024 incidents, the 2027 calendar will have 2025 events, etc. — but it can be hard to get incidents from an exact date, so I pull some of the best incidents from other months to fill in the gaps in the months where I need them.
Well, let's hope this "boy" has decided that a life of crime is not the best choice. He's young enough that he could do some good in the world.