Store owner scares off robbers.

[Jered]

He went for his piece and they took off running.

Also a good reason to keep it on your person.

[308Mike]

I haven't seen a Dan Wesson handgun in DECADES!

EDITED to show handgun - note the location of the cylinder release:



I USED to own a Dan Wesson handgun in either .38 or .357 Mag (I can't recall which since it was over 30 years ago), but I was NOT happy or comfortable with the location of the cylinder release (on the crane IN FRONT of the cylinders). So I sold it and used the money to help me purchase my bull-barreled Remington 700 in .308.

[arctictom]

Funny , and the kid trying the holdup got really lucky.

[Jered]

Funny , and the kid trying the holdup got really lucky.

In Washington, that would have been a textbook justifiable homicide.

[Catbird]

I know this store well. It is across the street from the church that sponsored my boy scout troop. It is about a mile from the house I grew up in and four miles from where I live now. It is also about a mile from where this happened. They used to serve pretty good BBQ, but I haven't been there in a couple of years.

It is inside the city of Seattle limits. The neighborhood is called Highland Park. It is really more White Center than West Seattle. It is mostly residential with a park and greenbelt nearby. I would be on my guard walking around there after dark.

I would bet that at least one of the occupants of the car is a regular customer and lives within a few blocks of the store.

[Catbird]

UPDATE: Robbers in custody,

Court documents say 27-year-old Fernando Quebrado and 21-year-old Francisco Dominguez-Rodriguez went into the store just before 10 pm Saturday, November 23rd, “armed with semi-automatic pistols,” while 28-year-old Aristides Padilla-Mejia sat outside in a white Ford Explorer “with the motor running and duct tape over logos on the side of the vehicle as well as over the license plate.”

The documents continue with the backstory on another charge filed against Dominguez-Rodriguez and Padilla-Mejia, for a South King County robbery the next night. They are accused of using the Explorer – which belongs to Padilla-Mejia’s mother – to run an Auburn barista off the road after she left work, subsequently robbing her on the roadside at gunpoint. Deputies responding to a call about that robbery found the Explorer crashed and abandoned, with that victim’s purse inside as well as a gun. They matched the vehicle to a law-enforcement bulletin sent out about the Morning Star Market holdup attempt. A ground and air search followed; no one was found, but the next day, a nearby resident called police after “three suspicious people” knocked on his door saying they needed water for their disabled car. Those three people turned out to be the two suspects and a pregnant woman (who was apparently a passenger in the Explorer at the time of the South King County robbery and is not charged in the case). The two men were found and arrested, and the investigation led detectives to arrest Quebrado.

I went by the store last night. It's nicer than it used to be. They got rid of the gas pumps so it's easier to park now. The store clerk in the story is very nice. He said that the previous owners used to carry on the hip while working.

The BBQ there is delicious. I'll need to stop there more often.