Armed Woman in Gunshop Saved by Book; Robber Shot (Video)

By Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-
Link to video here

In this dramatic video of an attempted armed robbery of a gunshop in Springdale, Arkansas, on December 6, 2014, one robber is wounded, and the gunshop owner is hit by a spent bullet that does not break the skin.

The two suspects, Marcus Gould, and Leon Roberson, are from California and are in custody.  Gould has a long criminal record, and was wounded in the arm by a shot fired by Shirley Cornett, who owns the store with her husband.   A bullet fired at Shirley was slowed by coin books on the counter before it hit her.  From 5newsonline.com:

Police said 25-year-old Marcus Gould and 20-year-old Leon Roberson are in custody after attempting to rob the store carrying semi-automatic pistols. They said the owner, Shirley Cornett, pulled out her .38 revolver and shot Gould in the arm as he was jumping over the counter towards her husband, Clint.

Owner Clint Cornett spoke to 5NEWS about the incident at their home Sunday night. Cornett said his wife was still very shaken up, and said the bullet that Gould fired back at her hit a stack of books on the counter, then hit her chest. He said the bullet did not break her skin.

It appears that more than four shots were fired. One to three by Shirley, at least one by Gould, and at least two by Roberson.

Roberson is in the red hoodie, Gould in the grey.  If you watch the video carefully, you can see that Roberson is having trouble with his semi-auto.  He repeatedly works the action, as if it were manually operated.  He may not have had a round in the chamber when they entered the store.

As he leaves the store, the slide is locked back, indicating that he is out of cartridges.  It appears that he has only fired two shots.  While not clear, he may have his eyes closed as he fires the first shot; the second seems to be an unexpected discharge into the floor.

As the pair of suspects enter the store, their appearance fairly screams out danger.  They both have hoodies on, Gould also has some sort of cover over his head.

I wonder if an employee or owner had picked up an AR or shotgun when the pair came into the store, if it might have deterred the attempted robbery.   A long gun in the hands of an employee or store owner behind the counter might have caused the pair to reconsider their robbery plans.   It is not my intention to second guess the people on the ground, but to consider what might have been done to prevent the shoot out.  I think Shirley did fairly well, under the circumstances.

The suspects obviously conferred with each other just before they put their robbery plan into action.

It all happened very fast, less than a minute from the time they drew guns until they are out of the store.

There was a previous armed robbery attempt in 2010:

Bullets flew across Thompson Street on Tuesday after employees of a pawn shop thwarted an armed robbery.
Shots fired at the robber zipped from C&S Gun Shop across Thompson and hit the plate glass window of P&N Oriental Market. Witnesses said shots also hit a silver or tan vehicle used as a getaway car.

c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.