Store Owner saves life with gun, other store owners thinking of getting a gun

WJZ reports the story:

Didn't Want To Shoot Would-Be Robber
Reporting
Mike Hellgren
Jun 13, 2008 4:25 pm
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Some Charles Village business owners are considering getting gun permits. They say they fear for their safety.

Mike Hellgren reports the new concerns follow a merchant shooting a would-be-robber who pulled a knife on him inside his store earlier this week.

The store owner who pulled the trigger has told Eyewitness News it was a matter of survival. The same man had robbed him again and again and became more aggressive each time.

It's rattled many store owners in Charles Village who are now focusing on their own safety.

The owner of the dry cleaners on 32nd and Saint Paul Streets says he faced the terrifying prospect of losing his own life when a man trying to rob his store pulled a knife on him.

"If I could ask him something, I would ask him why. Why did it have to come to this," said the shop owner.

The merchant made a split-second decision to grab his gun and shoot. He asked that his name remain anonymous.

He says the same man tried to rob him four times in the past two years. The would-be robber did not die from the wounds. . . . .