71 Year Old Jarhead Justice
On June 27, 2007, at 11:00PM, John Lovell, a 71 year old retired Marine was finishing his sandwich at a Subway restaurant in Plantation, Florida. He legally carried a concealed handgun.
Suddenly, two masked and armed men burst into the fast food eatery demanding money.
Lovell turned to see a gun stuck in his face. A masked man demanded Lovell hand over his wallet. Lovell intentionally dropped the wallet on the floor and refused to pick it up, saying he was afraid. The criminal then ordered him into the women's restroom. As he was being forced into the restroom, Lovell felt certain of the armed man's intentions. The survival instinct of the 71 year old Marine kicked into hyperdrive.
John Lovell drew his .45 caliber weapon and killed the first threat, 22 year old Donicio Ricardo Arrindell with one shot to the head and another to the stomach. He then shot the other masked man, 21 year old Fredrick Gerard Gadson in the chest. Cash was strewn and blood was splattered all about the sandwich shop. Officers found Arrindell face down, unresponsive, wearing sunglasses and a bandanna, with a gun near his left hand. Gadson was able to run nearly 300 yards into a nearby Bank Atlantic parking lot while trying to escape. Police found him cowering in the bushes.
Police are charging Gadson with armed robbery and murder. Gadson faces murder charges because, even though he did not shoot his partner, someone was killed while Gadson was committing a felony. Sweet, sweet justice.
Police said Lovell will not be charged in the shooting. There is a surveillance video of the incident, but police have not yet released it. Lovell has not spoken on camera after the incident.
Moral of story......Respect your elders. They might be more able to use the gun they carry than you are.
Link
Suddenly, two masked and armed men burst into the fast food eatery demanding money.
Lovell turned to see a gun stuck in his face. A masked man demanded Lovell hand over his wallet. Lovell intentionally dropped the wallet on the floor and refused to pick it up, saying he was afraid. The criminal then ordered him into the women's restroom. As he was being forced into the restroom, Lovell felt certain of the armed man's intentions. The survival instinct of the 71 year old Marine kicked into hyperdrive.John Lovell drew his .45 caliber weapon and killed the first threat, 22 year old Donicio Ricardo Arrindell with one shot to the head and another to the stomach. He then shot the other masked man, 21 year old Fredrick Gerard Gadson in the chest. Cash was strewn and blood was splattered all about the sandwich shop. Officers found Arrindell face down, unresponsive, wearing sunglasses and a bandanna, with a gun near his left hand. Gadson was able to run nearly 300 yards into a nearby Bank Atlantic parking lot while trying to escape. Police found him cowering in the bushes.
Police are charging Gadson with armed robbery and murder. Gadson faces murder charges because, even though he did not shoot his partner, someone was killed while Gadson was committing a felony. Sweet, sweet justice.
Police said Lovell will not be charged in the shooting. There is a surveillance video of the incident, but police have not yet released it. Lovell has not spoken on camera after the incident.
Moral of story......Respect your elders. They might be more able to use the gun they carry than you are.
Link
Labels: Old Men With Guns, Self Defense
posted by Xavier at 10:32 PM
13 Comments:
It's good to hear about the bad guys eating one for a change. Personally, I think the state of Florida needs to give this guy a medal for saving the lives of not only himself but the other employee also. But...we all know that nobody will acknowledge this event as anything but a "troubled youth" story revolving only around the surely imminent wrongful death civil suit soon to be swirling around this old man. poor fella.
This is exactly how all robbery attempts should end.
Xavier, Thanks for the posts. Could you please include a link to the original source in your posts?
It takes an incredible amount of nerve to not be passive in a terrifying situation like that. God bless Mr. Lovell and the municipality that did not punish him for getting a couple dirtbags off the street.
It's going to be a good day!
X:
Good to read about this clean shoot, but there's one part I really enjoyed: the good guy didn't blab to the media after the incident. I don't why this isn't stressed more often in gun rags and defensive shooting classes, but the fact is comments made to the press will become fodder for the "victim's" lawyers in the likely civil suit to follow.
In other words, folks involved in defensive shootings should "keep your mouth shut" until their lawyers are present!
Mike Harbour
Helena, MT
NRA Certified Pistol Instructor
From the original story: "Some are calling a former U.S. Marine a hero for shooting two men — killing one — during the botched robbery of a sandwich shop in Plantation. But the men's friends and family want to know how he could gun them down and not be charged."
Nice one, guys! So utterly predictable! I guess Sumdood placed those weapons into their angelic little hands, made them hide their halos under bandanas and tricked them into robbing the store by saying the nun's orphanage needed the money more than some money-grubbing corporation profiting off low-wage, low self-esteem service jobs. And everything was going peachy until this meddeling Marine mucked everything up! Didn't he hear the Hallelujah Chorus singing in the background during the robbery? How rude of him to shoot these two little angels!
I know the family of the dead CRIMINAL is upset at losing a family member. But I am SICK of hearing the families of the CRIMINALS going on about how good their young CRIMINAL was and how the VICTIM shouldn't have killed their young CRIMINAL. We had a shooting here in Portland, Or. recently that was probably suicide by cop. The young man rushed an officer with two knives. It was tragic for the family of course, but to hear the father go on about how the cop shouldn't have shot him because he didn't have a gun was pathetic.
The article shows that the venerable .45 is not necessarily the manstopper it is purported to be. Shot in the chest, ran 300 yards and is still alive.
Brass
Florida law does not allow civil wrongful death lawsuits after a good shoot like this. I also read elsewhere that the store manager says this ol' jarhead gets free sandwiches for life in his store.
I pray that, faced with the same grim circumstances, that I have the courage of a 71-year-old Marine when it counts.
Good reporting, sir! You're better than The Armed Citizen in Rifleman.
tweaker
I just heard about this story listing to the Neal Boortz show here in atl, ga. I have only one thing to say - semper fi jarhead and God bless you.
Wayne,
Atlanta, GA
I just heard about this story on the Neal Boortz show hear in atl, ga. I have only one thing to say - Semper fi Jarhead and God bless you.
Wayne,
Atlanta, Ga
Ooohrah!
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