Armed Citizen Stops Four Armed Robbers at Houston Gas Station

U.S.A. – We read about convenience stores and gas stations being robbed on a regular basis. We also read about young armed men wearing masks and committing robberies. Most business robberies occur between 8 pm and 3 am. Since we didn’t know when this particular store in Houston, Texas was going to be robbed, can we still call it news? It is definitely news when an armed customer stops a gang of armed robbers.

Our unsuspecting defender walked into the gas station just before 9 pm. Other customers were there as well. None of that was surprising until four young men rushed into the store. All four of them were wearing masks. All of them had guns in their hands. They told the store clerk and all the customers to hand over their wallets and their cash.

This defender was carrying concealed that night. He presented his firearm and shot three of the four robbers. The robbers ran from the store and dove back into the getaway car that was waiting outside. The getaway driver headed down the road. Photos of the crime scene seemed to show cartridge casings on the ground outside the store. That is called a clue.

There is no evidence that the armed defender went outside and shot at the fleeing robbers. The defender put his gun away and stayed at the scene. He gave a statement to the police when they arrived. We don’t know if the defender also called 911. I hope he did.

One of the customers was injured, but we don’t know if the customer was hit by the defender or by one of the five robbers. In fact, I couldn’t find reports that explicitly said the customer was wounded by a gunshot, only that he was injured. Emergency Medical Services took the injured customer to the hospital. The armed defender was not charged with a crime.

Four of the attackers were arrested at the hospital. The police are looking for the fifth attacker. The wounded customer is expected to make a full recovery.

That tells us a lot, but we’d like to know more. Almost all the convenience store chains have security videos. The likely reason that the store and the police have not released the video is because one, if not all, of the robbers were under the age of 18. Short of that video, we’re left to speculate.

Is defeating four attackers an impossible task, or is it simply a matter of training and practice?

Let us ignore luck for a moment. We can learn to carry in public. We can learn to present a firearm efficiently. We can learn to move and use cover. We can use tactics to give ourselves an advantage. I enjoyed those classes.

Knowing that you can present your firearm quickly and reliably takes practice. In particular, it takes dry practice. That takes about an hour a month spread out over 4 to 6 short sessions. That practice reinforces what you’ve been taught and also refines your skills. With a little practice, say three months, we should be able to draw and deliver two shots on four targets in about 3 seconds.

Does that mean the good guy outgunned four bad guys who had their guns in their hands with their guns already pointed at him? No, it does not.

We’re not sure what happened, but it is easy to imagine the four attackers walking to the back of the store to rob the clerk and customers standing in line. A customer near the cooler case at the end of the store might see the attackers stacked in a like one behind the other. Only the nearest attacker can shoot the defender without shooting the robber that were in his way. We don’t know if that is what happened in this case, but tactics can give an armed defender a huge advantage.

Tactics matter, and robbers shoot each other a fair percentage of the time.

Luck plays a factor too. The robbers might have been able to act quickly in a coordinated way and get off a lucky shot. That is why there is a risk in any gunfight. In contrast, the defender may have been slightly behind the robbers with a display of soft drinks between him and his attackers. When given an advantage like that, he took it while it lasted. Again, that is speculation without seeing the security video or reading an in-depth interview by an instructor in armed defense. Even the security video won’t tell us how many lives the defender saved that day.

In this case, we know our defender thought it was better to start shooting than to be disarmed by four armed robbers. Your judgment at the scene is the only thing that matters. Training and practice help you make better decisions.

This story is one of many that go under-reported by the mainstream media because it shows a positive image of a law-abiding gun owner defending their life and their family. It is our responsibility at AmmoLand to report these stories to you. While we will continue to report these stories, groups like the Crime Prevention Research Center, led by Dr. John Lott, are fastidious in studying the use of firearms for self-defense. Stay up to date with all news on self-defense by following CPRC and Ammoland.

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About Rob Morse

Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, at OpsLens, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.