Thursday, June 19, 2008

Someone said, "Never bring a bomb to a gunfight."

From various media reports... An attempted bank robbery in Canton, Michigan played out like a scene from a movie Monday when a man who police say claimed to have a bomb was stopped by a customer armed with a pistol.

The drama started just after a bank on Michigan Ave. opened around 9 a.m. Police say 54-year-old Joseph Webster from Washtenaw County walked up to a teller and handed her a note claiming he had a bomb strapped to his body.

The fast-thinking teller hit the silent alarm while filling a bag with money. Another teller saw the situation unfolding and alerted Nabil Fawzi, 39, a long-time customer. He pulled out a .9 mm handgun (for which he had a CCW permit), racked a bullet in the chamber, pointed it at Webster and announced, "You are not robbing this bank!" The startled Webster countered with, "but, I have a bomb." Fawzi wasn't impressed. "I don't care. You are not robbing this bank!" He then forced the Webster into a chair and held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

Police reported there were no injuries, no issues with Fawzi's CCW permit, and no bomb found at the scene. Of special note is the fact that no one was injured and the criminal was safely held until police were able to respond at a later time. Incidentally, some banks apparently have a policy prohibiting its employees from carrying a weapon of self-defense.

5 comments:

Jeremy said...

Good story!

NTWS said...

Great idea! If he really had a bomb, everyone would be dead. Why worry about that? People are replaceable, but money isn't...or was that the other way around? The FBI catches all or nearly all bank robbers. How stupid are you to risk everyone's life and property like that? Maybe we need a common sense test before we issue CCW permits.

J. Bowen said...

The same statistics that show that most bank robbers are caught also show that evidence of security dampens a would-be robber's desire to rob a bank. If this robber knew that customers carried weapons he would have either came with a bomb or not came at all.

truckingal said...

Ah, but. . .more public evidence that citizens are able and willing to prevent criminal idiots from throwing their weight around and I guarantee there will be less guys walking in trying to rob a bank with a bomb-real or not. The next would-be bomber/thief will figure, maybe some guy with a CCW will drop him before he makes it to the counter.

Anonymous said...

Excellent job here. This is the whole point of a CCW, stop crime and criminals. I have had a CCW for 20 years. 20 years ago I saw the need for one when I assisted a police officer just outside Lansing, Michigan.

I was traveling home around 2:00 am when I saw an officer on the ground struggling with a suspect. No backup was around so I stopped and pulled the perp off the cop, but only after getting bashed in the face a few times. The officer was grateful and recommended I get a CCW. I did.

In that 20 years I stopped two home invasions, one at a friend's house. Had I not had a CCW I would not have had the gun with me. The second was an attempt at my own home.

Thank God for the 2nd Amendment