Family Outraged that Sibling was Shot Dead by Clerk while He Tried to Rob Store

When you attempt to rob a store and point your gun at innocent people, you should expect to be stopped with deadly force. A young man found this out the hard way when he walked into a Dayton, Ohio Dollar General with a gun.  He pointed the weapon at the cashier and demanded money. 

Another employee was at the store, not at the register and not on the clock.  He was carrying a weapon, per his Constitutional right.  Perhaps he was carrying it, because this is the fourth time this store has been robbed in a year.  

Let that sink in.

But this would not go as it had before.  Here’s what happened next, according to WHIO.

A male suspect, believed to be in his 20s, entered the 2228 North Gettysburg Avenue Dollar General with a gun around 6:20 p.m. Wednesday.

A clerk shot the suspect after he demanded money.

The suspect walked outside and collapsed outside the store’s front doors.

The suspect was identified as Roosevelt Rappley, 23, of Dayton.

Rappley was known to police, said Lt. Jason Hall.

“The deceased did have a pending weapons charge that was waiting to move forward,” he said. “Right now we are looking into the possibility of this individual may have been involved in several other commercial robberies.”

The community is probably thankful that a robber who had been on the loose was stopped.   But his family members were indignant and furious that the cashier protected himself. They expressed this anger in an interview that went viral, in which they blamed the cashier for their brother’s death:

Dayton, Ohio family outraged their sibling was shot dead by a store clerk while attempting an armed robbery

pic.twitter.com/Z5r5OZnAgm

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) October 12, 2019

Though it is understandable that these siblings would be upset so soon after their brother’s death, it’s worth pointing out that a “good guy with a gun” is the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun.”  In this case, their brother was the bad guy, and he was – correctly – stopped.

The sister’s insistence that you don’t need to take a gun to work was undermined by… the fact that her brother robbed them at work. The police say the clerk was legally allowed to have the weapon on premises.

“Call the police,” Roosevelt’s sister said, as an alternative to self-defense. But we’ve seen time and time again when the police only arrive after the tragedy has occurred.

You can’t expect to point a gun at another person without something bad happening.  I, for one, am proud of the Dollar General employee for thinking on his feet and being prepared.  The shooter’s terrible actions had consequences.

I’m glad in this circumstance that the “good guy with a gun” protected himself, the store, and his customers from a person who sought to harm them.

Image Credit: Random Retail on Flickr