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http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/20 ... /21489541/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Now, my question to each of you is this, would you follow someone you suspected of being up to no good?

My answer would have to be the only way I would do it would be if a family member were the one working in the store. After all, as stated many times here, we are not LEO's

read about it early this morning and my first thought was that if you aren't law enforcement just call the police, unless as you said you had friends or family in the store.
You open yourself up to extra scrutiny when following a suspicious person, and put yourself in danger as well....IMO.

RPBrown wrote: Now, my question to each of you is this, would you follow someone you suspected of being up to no good?

In my neighborhood, absolutely...

RPBrown wrote:http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/crime/20 ... /21489541/

Now, my question to each of you is this, would you follow someone you suspected of being up to no good?

My answer would have to be the only way I would do it would be if a family member were the one working in the store. After all, as stated many times here, we are not LEO's

It depends on where they were and what it looked like they were up to. Around my property, absolutely. Anywhere else....probably not...but it depends.

I would absolutely not have done what the guy in the article did. If a store wants armed security to defend against robberies, they either need to let their employees arm themselves if they so desire, or they need to hire armed guards. I'm not in the business of providing store owners with free security. Most store owners have decided that neither alternative is worth the risk or their money so I'm certainly not going to put myself at risk.

If I read that right, the homeowner followed and then ambushed.

He was shot for his trouble. He should've simply called the police while keeping watching over his own property.

Instead, his action got him shot for something he shouldn't have involved himself in.

Dumb.

Abraham wrote:If I read that right, the homeowner followed and then ambushed.

He was shot for his trouble. He should've simply called the police while keeping watching over his own property.

Instead, his action got him shot for something he shouldn't have involved himself in.

Dumb.

Not something he should have been involved in. We're not police. Call them not act on their behalf.

It's easy to Monday morning QB, but difficult to know what really happened, and what really went through the guy's head. Here's my views:

If the homeowner saw the guys and said to himself "they're headed to that c-store, and I'm going to head them off", he did wrong and acted foolishly.

If, though, he saw them and said to himself "they look like they're up to no good. I'm going to follow them and see what they're up to"... Then a few minutes later "oh crap, that's them in the store sticking it up", then I'm a lot more hesitant to say he did wrong.

Calling the police in the first situation would have been difficult - "Yes, 911, I just saw two guys get out of a car and head across an open field to a c-store". Even if it brought the police to the scene, it would likely have been too late, since it's not an observed emergency (maybe they ran out of gas, and were taking a shortcut to get more).

In the second situation, calling the police also might have been too late. Response times are just too slow.

Every situation is unique, but as a general rule, I'd recall what happened to George Zimmerman who for a while followed a suspicious looking person that turned out to be Trayvon Martin.

Basically agree with the OP - unless the suspicious looking person was getting into close proximity to a member of my family, my inclination would be to keep my distance; I'm not an LEO and my CHL doesn't let me play at being one.

ScooterSissy wrote:In the second situation, calling the police also might have been too late. Response times are just too slow.

When I get a badge and a paycheck to go with it I'll concern myself with apprehending robbery suspects and other bad guys. Until then, for a myriad of reasons, I'm content to let the police do it.

VMI77 wrote:

ScooterSissy wrote:In the second situation, calling the police also might have been too late. Response times are just too slow.

When I get a badge and a paycheck to go with it I'll concern myself with apprehending robbery suspects and other bad guys. Until then, for a myriad of reasons, I'm content to let the police do it.

Slacker.

anygunanywhere wrote:

VMI77 wrote:

ScooterSissy wrote:In the second situation, calling the police also might have been too late. Response times are just too slow.

When I get a badge and a paycheck to go with it I'll concern myself with apprehending robbery suspects and other bad guys. Until then, for a myriad of reasons, I'm content to let the police do it.

Slacker.

Slackening powers of observation too....I just now noticed you've got a new avatar.

VMI77 wrote:

anygunanywhere wrote:

VMI77 wrote:

ScooterSissy wrote:In the second situation, calling the police also might have been too late. Response times are just too slow.

When I get a badge and a paycheck to go with it I'll concern myself with apprehending robbery suspects and other bad guys. Until then, for a myriad of reasons, I'm content to let the police do it.

Slacker.

Slackening powers of observation too....I just now noticed you've got a new avatar.

Purty ain't it?

I think I would have called a 911 Suspicious Person report as soon as the stopped and headed across the field.
Then I would stand on my property with that AR and be sure they knew I was watching
In fact I did this almost exactly some years ago when I heard and saw thieves trying to break into a neighbors truck in the wee hours

The other night I noticed three silver compact cars parked across the street from our house. I thought it was strange, so, when I left the house to go pick something up, I drove past them. I saw three persons in the first car and none in the 2nd or 3rd. I immediately called my wife and told her not to answer the door if anyone answered. When I returned, I drove slowly past them, to make sure they knew I knew they were there. When I got in the house I immediately called the police. I briefly considered asking them what they were doing, but, even though I was armed, I didn't want to take the chance that they were armed and would shoot me.

The police arrived a little while later. The car was gone, but the other two were still parked. So he got full descriptions of the vehicles including license plates and waited for a little while to see if they returned.

Turns out there's an active investigation into some recent burglaries. I don't know if these guys fit in or not, but that's not my job. If they show up again, I'll call police immediately.

I saw the story on the news this morning and they interviewed someone with the police and the homeowner and it sounds like things happened a little different than the article.
From what they said he didn't follow them to the convenience store he kept an eye out on a suspicious car parked in front (or maybe it was behind) his house at a barricade blocking off vehicle access from a field with the business on the other side.
When they were coming back from the store having robbed it he asked what they were doing there(in the field) and they opened fire.

Based on this account and the confirmation from the police I'd say he didn't handle it too poorly, but likely should have called the police when he got suspicious. Apparently he is known in the area and to the police because there has been a lot of crime and he's reported it previously