An armed robbery turned into a deadly mistake for a New Orleans teen on Tuesday night when one of his victims opened fire in self-defense.
Authorities say two teens, both armed, walked into Sam’s Meat Market just before 8 p.m. Tuesday evening and demanded money from the store’s employees, one of whom had access to a gun of his own.
Store manager Diaa Hamed said the armed individuals came into the store demanding money while pointing their guns at the worker and taking items out of a glass cabinet.
“They came in, and were like ‘money, money, money, money.’ That’s all they said,” Hamed said.
The worker can be seen in surveillance footage from the store complying with the would-be robbers before reaching for a gun near the register.
Police said [18-year-old Teony] Juarez was shot once and the juvenile was struck multiple times.
The employee has not been immediately identified in the shooting and authorities said he is not currently facing any charges.
Hamed said no workers were hurt, but they were shaken by what happened.
“They were really scared. We all carry guns, but we hope not to use them. However, in this situation we had to,” he said.
I don’t know any gun owner who hopes they have to use their firearm in self-defense. I, for one, would be perfectly happy if I’m never placed in a situation where my life or the lives of others are threatened and I have to draw my gun or pull the trigger to protect innocent lives. It’s not really up to us, though. This employee certainly didn’t ask to have a gun shoved in his face on Tuesday night. He was just trying to get through the end of his shift so he could go home to his family.
Surveillance video from inside the store shows Juarez and his accomplice taking money and other items while waving their guns around. As the pair near the store’s entrance, the employee grabs a pistol from under the counter and fires twelve shots at the robbers. One of them falls to the ground, while the other runs out the door.
The employee then jumps over the counter and out of view of the camera, but reappears a few seconds later and fires two more rounds at the suspect on the floor, who was still moving. The video shared by NOLA.com blurs out the image of the juvenile who was shot, so it’s unclear whether he was reaching for his gun when the employee’s last shots were fired, but police haven’t announced any charges against the employee at this time.
When Hamed got to the store last night, he said his coworker, a father of two daughters, was in tears.
“That’s the first thing he was worried about: his family,” Hamed said. “It really was a scary moment.”
Moving forward, Hamed said he hopes to have security guards at the store. He said he’s nervous the suspects’ families will retaliate.
“They have friends and family, and maybe they’re going to come back and do something, or maybe they’re going to let it go,” Hamed said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
I’m sure both employees and customers would appreciate additional security measures, but it sounds like Hamed and the store owner have already taken an important step towards keeping them safe by allowing (and maybe even encouraging) employees to be armed on the clock. Working at a convenience store can be a dangerous job, regardless of whether the store has armed security, and the least that employers can do is ensure that employees can protect themselves instead of making it a fireable offense to bear arms behind the counter.
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