Man with CCW Shoots 2 Gunmen During 7-11 Holdup

Virginia Beach, Virginia – A crime spree of convenience store robberies was halted in its tracks when two masked gunmen were shot by a customer at their final robbery.

According to police, officers where dispatched to the 7-11 located at 130 S. Newtown Road at around 2.a.m Thursday morning to a report of shots fired.

Witnesses inside the store told 10 On Your Side that two men had stormed into the business wearing hoodies with bandanas over their faces and carrying what appeared to be handguns.

Barrie Engle, the employee working the register said,

“I just couldn’t believe it was happening. They told us not to move and they told us to stay where we were.”

While one man jumped behind the counter to start taking money out of the register, the other kept an eye on the customers.

Engle said he was in the process of telling the men that they didn’t need to do this when he heard shots ring out in the store.

“I heard a gunshot, and as soon as I heard the gunshot I just fell to my knees, held my head and prayed to God that I wasn’t going to be the next shot,” Engel said.

According to police, the shots came, not from the gunmen, but from a customer in the store with a license to carry concealed. He killed one suspect immediately and severely wounded the other.

Witnesses of the shooting called the armed citizen a ‘hero’ and claimed he was heard saying,

“No one points a gun at me and gets away with it.”

Another customer, Hugh Sisson ran up to the downed men and took away the weapon.

“I went to get the other gun, pulled the magazine and realized it was a fake,” said Hugh Sisson. “It had a CO2 cartridge instead of a magazine.”

A third suspect was tracked by law enforcement and arrested in connection with the attempted robbery at a location not far away. Detectives say that this 7-11 is the fourth robbery perpetrated by the men within only a few hours.

The men also robbed stores at, Pacific Avenue at the Oceanfront, Chesapeake Boulevard, and Virginia Beach Boulevard before their final attempt at this location.

There are no reports of charges filed against the shooter at this time.

Read here for an article on How to Draw from Concealed.

What lessons do you think could be learned form this self defense situation?