For those of you who are anti-gun, or pro-gun control, this is a classic example of a good guy with a gun defending himself from a bad guy with a gun. On February 18, 25-year-old Terry Gillenwater attempted to rob the Good Family Pharmacy in Pinch, West Virginia, just outside the capital of Charlestown. It would be his last act.
In surveillance video, you see Gillenwater attempt to rob the pharmacy at gunpoint, but he did not expect pharmacist Rob Radcliff, who is also a concealed carry permit, to draw his firearm shooting him three times. The first and third shots hit Gillenwater’s shoulder and chest. The second hit his gun, disabling it, according to West Virginia’s Metro News.
Nevertheless, Gillenwater kept point his firearm at innocent civilians and attempted to shoot throughout the whole ordeal.
Metro News also mentioned that Radcliff and others administered first aid to Gillenwater, but to no avail; he died at the hospital. No charges will be filed against Radcliff:
A pharmacist who fatally shot an armed robber in his drug store won’t face criminal charges, Kanawha County prosecutor Chuck Miller said [last] Friday.…
“Mr. Gillenwater had done some preliminary efforts to case the pharmacy,” said Miller. “He had done some search on his iPhone with respect to drugs in the pharmacy.”
Gillenwater had entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to distribute OxyContin in December. The plea was deferred to allow him to enter a drug rehab program. The deferred status is designed to allow the charges to be dropped if the defendant successfully completes the course.
Miller said although every case is different, Radcliff’s action was reasonable. Under state law, Miller said everyone has the right to defend themselves against deadly force and the pointing of a loaded pistol a Radcliff and other unarmed, innocent customers and employees of the store met the threshold.
“We believe Mr. Radcliff was completely justified in his actions,” said Miller. “It’s unfortunate this young man died as a result of his own action, but that happens.
“I must say it took a great deal of courage for Mr. Radcliff to pull his weapon and fire in the face of a weapon being pointed at him that was fully loaded with a round in the chamber,” Miller said. “That takes a lot of nerve, but he was completely justified in doing so.”
To those who simply don’t understand what transpired here (looking at you Everytown, gun control advocates), this is called defensive gun use.