I've been sitting on this story for a couple of days since it has nothing to do with reptiles, but decided to post it anyways. For those who don't know, I am a reserve police officer in a suburban Detroit community (in additon to my Air Force commitment), and a strong proponent of the right of law-abiding citizens to self-defense.
Sadly, people such as Sarah Brady & the below-mentioned Arthur Hayhoe, do not feel the same. In the article, Hayhoe claims that it was a shooting of an "unarmed man" (the second dirtbag, who was reaching for the weapon).
<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> Dad slays gunman inside son's store
By Rich McKay
Sentinel Staff Writer
March 20, 2002
ORANGE CITY -- This article misspelled the name of Volusia County Sheriff's Sgt. Bob Kelley.
A father came to his son's rescue during an armed robbery attempt at a Blockbuster Video store Monday night -- slaying the gunman and wounding an accused accomplice with a .45-caliber pistol he kept under his shirt, detectives said.
It was no coincidence that Robert P. Shockey was at the store. Every night that his 20-year-old son, Gabe, closes up, Robert Shockey waited and watched. And he has been armed with his semi-automatic.
The reason is another robbery at the Blockbuster in January. During that crime, one of Gabe Shockey's co-workers was attacked and dragged around by his hair.
Shockey's son refused to quit his job, so the father did the only thing he could think of to protect his son -- watch.
"A lot of nights it'd be just him, and it's so dark there," Shockey said. "I'd go down, 10:30, 11 and sit in my car in the parking lot. I figured if there were cars there, it would help. If my son wasn't busy, I'd go in and talk to him.
"I don't consider myself a hero," he said. "I love my family."
Detectives say it was lucky he was there Monday.
Robert Shockey, a 50-year-old carpenter, was inside the Enterprise Road store about 11:45 p.m., 15 minutes before closing. There were no customers as Gabe Shockey went to the back office to tally up the day's receipts. Robert Shockey stood inside near the front counter talking to a young man on his first day of work.
From his DeLand home Tuesday, Shockey recalled the events. The door burst open and two men rushed in. Ski masks covered their faces. One brandished a rifle and both were shouting violent, obscenity-laced threats."They made it clear that they would kill us," Shockey said.
His son saw it on the monitors in the office and called 911. But the shooting happened just heartbeats later.
"It was fast -- an adrenaline moment," Shockey said. "I had no time to think, just react."
The gunman first pointed the rifle at Robert Shockey and then at an employee, identified only as Brian. While the rifle was pointed at the young employee, Shockey reached for the pistol tucked in his belt against the small of his back. He drew the weapon.
"I shouted, "Freeze!" he said. The man with the rifle -- standing only about 6 feet away -- turned and pointed it at Shockey.
Shockey fell silent for a moment when asked about what happened next. "It's got him shaken up," said his wife, Gloria.
Detectives say Shockey fired at least two shots, hitting the gunman once in the throat and once in the chest. The man detectives say was an accomplice then reached for the rifle, so Shockey fired again, hitting him in the chest. He fired a fourth shot that missed.
The man who died, 19-year-old James Franklin Wince of Deltona, was an off-duty employee of the store he was trying to rob, said detectives, who think Wince was involved in the January robbery.
The survivor, Darius Bennett, 18, is charged with murder in his partner's death under a law that allows someone involved in a felony to be charged with murder even if that person didn't do the killing. Felony murder is a second-degree murder, sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said.
Bennett was charged at his hospital bed in the intensive care unit at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where he was listed in stable condition Tuesday afternoon. Bennett, who also has several felony convictions, is expected to recover.
Shockey, who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon, received praise from sheriff's officials for his actions, and got a call from Sheriff Ben Johnson, who offered his support.
"He [Shockey] is going to get the good-citizenship award," Davidson said.
Detectives will forward their information to the State's Attorney's Office for a final decision.
Investigator Sgt. Bob Kelly said: "It appears to be a self-defense case."
Though only 19, Wince has a record of a half dozen arrests and several convictions on charges ranging from burglary to vehicle theft. A Blockbuster spokesman in Dallas, Randy Hargrove, said the company does not do criminal background checks at its Florida stores. He could not explain the reason for that policy.
Arthur Hayhoe, the executive director of the Florida Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said this case is "a tough call" for a group that favors strict gun laws.
He said he won't "second-guess" a parent defending his son, but Hayhoe is troubled with the second shooting.
"It's still a shooting of an unarmed person, and that's always troubling," he said.And he predicted the story will wind up in the National Rifle Association's publication, The American Rifleman, and its column, Armed Citizen, which recounts the stories of people who use guns to defend themselves.
The NRA declined to comment on the incident. But another group, the Gun Owners of America, based in Springfield, Va., applauded.
"It's a classic case of self-defense, and one less menace to society," said the group's executive director, Larry Pratt. "Good for him."
Robert Shockey doesn't want praise, saying, "I was just doing what I had to do."
Alicia C. Caldwell of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Rich McKay can be reached at
rmckay@orlandosentinel.com or 386-253-2316.
Copyright © 2002, Orlando Sentinel
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Blaming guns for violence is like blaming spoons for Rosie O'Donnel being fat.
