Big ‘Oops!’
Two guys in Auburn, Washington realized about five seconds too late they had picked the wrong target for an armed robbery late last month.
Their intended victim — for whatever reason, parked in the lot of a Walmart at about 3 a.m. one morning — was a 53-year-old woman. The perps were 19 and 22. At least one of them had a gun. As they approached the parked vehicle, they reportedly demanded the woman’s possessions.
Well, they got a couple, alright. She drew a pistol and capped off some rounds, causing one of the thugs to open fire and the woman was hit, but the wound was not life-threatening. Insider Online spoke to the Auburn Police Department about this incident. The spokesman said the two suspects were tracked down with a drone and a K-9 unit, and they were hauled to jail.
Auburn is in King County and is a suburb of Seattle. King County has the largest number of active concealed pistol licenses of any county in the state. At last count, there were more than 113,000 CPLs in circulation.
In Washington, opening fire on people who clearly intend to do you harm is allowed under state statute, provided it happens “(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
“(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.”
A separate Washington State statute allows the use of force “Whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, in case the force is not more than is necessary.”
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