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After Harlem store owner Charles "Gus" Augusto shot at armed robbers who were pistol-whipping his employee, killing two of the suspects, the 72-year-old (pictured) lamented, saying, "I would have been happy if they'd all run out the door. I'm sick to my stomach over it," and "This is terrible. This is really awful." The NY Times revisited some store owners who have similar feelings: "A few owners said the shootings in their pasts, even those from decades ago, were still too painful to talk about. One, who would speak only anonymously, said, 'I’ve been trying to forget about this since it happened.'" But one, Youssouf Drame, was open about not regretting his decision. Last fall, Drame managed to wrest away a gun from robbers at his electronics store in Brooklyn (the robbers pistol-whipped one of Drame's employees) and killed two of the four robbers. He was shot seven times and showed the Times his scars, saying if he was confronted again, "I’d do worse...I worked so hard, and they wanted to take what is mine." And of the Harlem shooting at Augusto's store, Drame said, "How are you going to rob an old man like that?"
Shop Owners Who Shoot Robbers Mostly Regret It
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the cops have busted the block of canal street near pearl paint.
I talked to them and they said that
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Probably not surprising that the guy who was himself shot seven times in the struggle would be less likely to regret what he did. He can clearly see that he had no choice.
Who would have guessed? It turns out killing a person, for whatever reason, is a tragic, deeply troubling experience.
Decent, law abiding people feel bad about taking a life. On the other hand, I rarely hear of a robber/mugger who shows regret after killing. They are usually caught celebrating with the victim's money and making up excuses such as "If he hadn't resisted I wouldn't have killed him".
O really? You chat with a lot of robbers and muggers about the sincerity of their regret? Approaching the world as good guys and bad guys is for children, grow up.
On the other hand, murdered shop owners were unavailable for comment.
Exactly.
Maybe Mr. Drame is the only one willing to be honest with the press, and with himself.
Years ago when carry permits were available, storekeepers were solicited by people (firms) offering their services to get you a license. There were ads in the sports sections of the tabloids from these companies as well. I had an acquaintance, an NYPD Detective, who said that having a gun in a store was an invitation to get shot. If there was something in that place that he really wanted he would shoot you first. An armed shopkeeper is inviting disaster.
Then your aquantance is an idiot.
So the NYT is reporting that legal gun owners who use a firearm in self-defense actually regret it? I always thought legal gun owners were unrepentant murderers who couldn't wait to use the gun!!!
My only regret is that all four weren't shot to death by this man.
There's regret on all sides of a situation in which someone dies. That's pretty much the way of it. Unless of course one of the people involved is a sociopath, or simply psychotic. In which case they could care less. But it just sounds nicer to say it the other way. And sociopaths would agree.
Psychopaths would probably be happy counting crayons.
The guy who seems to have regretted it the most is the one who ran out after the robbers and shot them—he was not acting in self-defense. People defending their lives or their families lives rarely regret doing so. Those who take a life unnecessarily find it harder to cope with. This is unsurprising.