A convenience store clerk in Arlington (TX) shot and killed an allegedly armed robber last night, but the police can’t seem to find the robber’s gun.

A suspected robber was fatally shot Monday night by a clerk at an Arlington convenience store, police said.

The shooting occurred about 7:45 p.m. at the Super Save Food Store in the 2500 block of East Abram Street, near State Highway 360.

The clerk told police that two people went into the store with the intention of robbing him, but the clerk pulled out a gun and fatally shot one of the two men, police Lt. Christopher Cook said.

He was pronounced dead on the scene. The clerk told police the man was armed, but a firearm has not yet been located, he said.

I’m going to be very interested to see how the general public responds to this incident. Anti-police radicals consistently attack law enforcement officers for shooting “unarmed” suspects when the suspects are shot for making a furtive moment or are “reaching for something” ( for example the show trial of Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby in the shooting of PCP abuser Terence Crutcher when he ignored her commands to surrender and reached into his SUV), but how will they react when the shoe is on the other proverbial foot?

I’d simply note that the clerk doesn’t have to have seen a real weapon to have potentially observed the suspect pretending like he had a gun, like the classic “finger in the coat pocket” stick-up move. If he thought he was facing a deadly force threat, then a deadly force response would have been warranted. The only way this should result in a prosecution of the clerk is if the suspects weren’t attempting to rob the store.

If they made a finger gun, or the second suspect ran off with a real or replica gun, I’m inclined to give the clerk the same benefit of the doubt I’d give a police officer or one of you.

Armed robbery is a dangerous profession. The best way to survive it is not to attempt it.