October 24th, 2008
Hold the Anchovies, Extra Lead
Pizza Delivery Man Shoots, Fends Off Would-Be Robbers
C’mon guys, this was in Texas. If you simply insist on messing with a pizza guy after all the stories about pizza guys shooting would-be attackers, why on earth would you choose to do it in Texas?
LUFKIN, Texas — A pizza delivery man who was taking an order to a house in East Texas pulled out a gun and opened fire on two would-be robbers, police said.
One of the alleged robbers was hospitalized after getting shot in the back, Lufkin police said. The Papa John’s pizza delivery man, who’s licensed to carry a handgun, wasn’t hurt.
The shooting was Tuesday night, after the delivery man walked up to a house and rang a doorbell, Lufkin police said. It turned out the house was vacant and two armed men approached him from the side of the house, The Lufkin Daily News reported Thursday. The delivery man drew a .22 caliber Derringer and fired two shots, and the assailants ran away, police said.
A couple of comments: First, previous stories have indicated that Papa John’s employees are prohibited from carrying while on the clock. What I’m not sure of is if this is a Papa John’s corporate policy, a franchise policy, or a local store policy. So while the authorities may not charge the delivery guy, he may still be disciplined or terminated by Papa John’s.
Secondly, the driver defended himself with a .22. This is a discussion I’ve had with a number of folks lately. One guy told me that if he couldn’t carry a .45, he didn’t “see the point of bothering to carry a gun at all.” Obviously, when faced with a crisis, we’d all like to have overwhelming firepower on our side. But everything is a bit of a compromise, and if the choice is a .22 or nothing, I’ll take the popgun, thankyouverymuch.
I think the pizza guy in this story agrees. Maybe he chose a little gun so that he could violate company no-carry policy without getting caught. If so, it appears that he made the correct decision.
Via CGSDB.
Tags: TX
