Newspaper carrier shoots, kills robber
Posted: 2002-10-11 02:10pm
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/i ... 249760.xml
AROL ROBINSON
News staff writer
A newspaper carrier killed a gun-wielding robber at a convenience store early Monday after the man burst into the store screaming wildly and pointing a shotgun at the clerk.
Sam Harper, 43, was filling the racks with Monday's edition of The Birmingham News when he saw the robber put on a wig and storm into the Chevron at 8730 First Ave. North.
Chaos erupted. When it was over, the robber was dead on the store floor and the clerk praised Harper for his bravery and fast finger.
"I think Sam saved my life, no doubt about it," said clerk Tom Burtnett. "I was looking down the barrel of a shotgun and a shotgun don't miss."
Police had not identified the dead man Monday. He is the fourth man in recent years shot trying to rob that Chevron. The clerk, Burtnett, shot the other three.
Harper said it was about 3:20 a.m. when he saw the gunman round the corner of the building.
"He went sailing in there with the shotgun," Harper said. "The guy was berserk. He was screaming his guts out."
Harper looked through the window and saw the store clerk cornered in the cashier cage, the shotgun inches away from Burtnett and aimed straight at him.
"The clerk was like a fish in a barrel and he (the robber) was stirring around in there with a shotgun," Harper said. "It was a terrible thing."
Harper, who has delivered newspapers for 22 years, grabbed his gun and went inside.
"I just reacted," he said. "It was total chaos and it was pretty terrifying."
He fired three shots at the gunman. The bullets hit their mark but didn't stop the robber, Harper and Burtnett said.
"He ran toward me and I shot him twice more," Harper said. "After five he fell down. But then he got up again."
The wounded robber crawled to the back of the store, still hollering and thrashing about, and then died, the witnesses said. His shotgun had dropped behind the store counter.
It didn't appear Monday there would be any charges filed.
After the shooting, Harper gave his statement to police, reluctantly accepted Burtnett's profuse gratitude, slept for a few hours and then got up to finish his route after sunrise.
Burtnett, a 53-year-old former police officer, reflected on the dangers of his job as a night store clerk. Almost every two years for the past six years he's been faced with a similar scenario. He shot one robber twice in the leg, another fatally in the chest and in June 2001 critically wounded another man, who is now in prison, when he tried to pull off a pre-dawn robbery at the store.
He said he would have shot this robber if Harper hadn't.
"Sam had the drop on me," Burtnett said.
It would make sense that the word on the street would be to find a safer place to rob, but Burtnett said that's not so.
"Crackheads don't care," he said. "Do you think they read the newspaper and watch television? No."
AROL ROBINSON
News staff writer
A newspaper carrier killed a gun-wielding robber at a convenience store early Monday after the man burst into the store screaming wildly and pointing a shotgun at the clerk.
Sam Harper, 43, was filling the racks with Monday's edition of The Birmingham News when he saw the robber put on a wig and storm into the Chevron at 8730 First Ave. North.
Chaos erupted. When it was over, the robber was dead on the store floor and the clerk praised Harper for his bravery and fast finger.
"I think Sam saved my life, no doubt about it," said clerk Tom Burtnett. "I was looking down the barrel of a shotgun and a shotgun don't miss."
Police had not identified the dead man Monday. He is the fourth man in recent years shot trying to rob that Chevron. The clerk, Burtnett, shot the other three.
Harper said it was about 3:20 a.m. when he saw the gunman round the corner of the building.
"He went sailing in there with the shotgun," Harper said. "The guy was berserk. He was screaming his guts out."
Harper looked through the window and saw the store clerk cornered in the cashier cage, the shotgun inches away from Burtnett and aimed straight at him.
"The clerk was like a fish in a barrel and he (the robber) was stirring around in there with a shotgun," Harper said. "It was a terrible thing."
Harper, who has delivered newspapers for 22 years, grabbed his gun and went inside.
"I just reacted," he said. "It was total chaos and it was pretty terrifying."
He fired three shots at the gunman. The bullets hit their mark but didn't stop the robber, Harper and Burtnett said.
"He ran toward me and I shot him twice more," Harper said. "After five he fell down. But then he got up again."
The wounded robber crawled to the back of the store, still hollering and thrashing about, and then died, the witnesses said. His shotgun had dropped behind the store counter.
It didn't appear Monday there would be any charges filed.
After the shooting, Harper gave his statement to police, reluctantly accepted Burtnett's profuse gratitude, slept for a few hours and then got up to finish his route after sunrise.
Burtnett, a 53-year-old former police officer, reflected on the dangers of his job as a night store clerk. Almost every two years for the past six years he's been faced with a similar scenario. He shot one robber twice in the leg, another fatally in the chest and in June 2001 critically wounded another man, who is now in prison, when he tried to pull off a pre-dawn robbery at the store.
He said he would have shot this robber if Harper hadn't.
"Sam had the drop on me," Burtnett said.
It would make sense that the word on the street would be to find a safer place to rob, but Burtnett said that's not so.
"Crackheads don't care," he said. "Do you think they read the newspaper and watch television? No."
Some people.... There are no words to describe them. 
Ah, I remember the day a crackhead tried too rob an NRA Live Fire Exercise/Club Meeting