A busy Houston meat market that hadn’t been robbed in 60 years of business had that streak broken this past Saturday when a man attempted to rob the store at gunpoint. When the teen-aged clerk didn’t move fast enough for the criminal and the robber fired at her, manager J.L. Nickel gave the robber several reasons to reconsider his profession, including one to the back of the head.

That’s when Nickel took action. He fired two shots, hitting the man in the back of the head.

“Just spur of the moment,” he said. “I just did what I had to do. Everything happened and I just did it on instinct. I was just worried about everyone else in here.”

Surprisingly, the robber not only fled the restaurant after being shot, but successfully escaped.

This isn’t a perfect defensive gun use because of the criminal’s escape, but Nickel stopped the robber from firing any more shots and likely saved lives as a result, and that is certainly “good enough” for all the people inside who escaped unhurt.

If Nickel had not been armed we might instead be reading an article about a teen clerk or other customers in the busy store being shot.

Nicely done, sir.