All Detroit resident Dennis and his girlfriend Latanya wanted was to pick up dinner in west side Detroit’s E&S Carry Out Shrimp Shack on McNichols Road. Instead, what they got was an armed robbery attempt that forced Dennis to draw his lawfully-concealed weapon and shoot the robber to the ground.

As customers waited for their orders, they suddenly found themselves in danger.

“I would have given him money if he asked for money,” Dennis said.

But the attempted robber wasn’t begging, instead demanding cash at gunpoint.

“Just shocked we were getting robbed,” Latanya said.

Dennis and his girlfriend, Latanya, didn’t have much time to react. The couple and another customer started throwing their money and wallets on the floor.

“It wasn’t a plan. It was just instinct. He had the gun in my girl’s face,” Dennis said.

But little did the robber know Dennis was ready and waiting for an opportunity.

“When I saw he had the gun in her face, and I threw my wallet down and keys, he turned to look and get the money, that’s when I lit him up,” Dennis said.

Dennis pulled out his gun, striking the robber once in the stomach. He then kicked the robber’s gun away, then tended to the robber turned-victim.

In the video (above), Dennis points out that he felt bad about having to shoot the armed robber, but that he felt he had no choice as the robber was pointing the gun at Latanya. He waited for an opportune moment, drew his lawfully-concealed handgun, and shot the bad guy in the stomach.

The bad guy is very fortunate that Dennis didn’t fire more than one bullet. It’s very common in scenarios like these for the good guy to fire a volley of rapid-fire shots once they’ve determined lives are in danger at close range, and that they need to put the bad guy down hard and fast. It’s not uncommon for well-trained shooters to lay down 4-6 shots in a couple of seconds in a scenario like this, and Dennis would likely have been legally justified in expending more rounds than he did, with every round fired tearing up more tissue and increasing the probability of the robber’s wounds turning fatal.

Dennis concludes his interview by warning the young, violent criminals that many of the “gray hairs” in Detroit—seasoned citizens like himself—have obtained their concealed carrier permits and are packing heat, and that bad guys like the attempted robber will never be able to tell who is armed and who is not. If criminals target the wrong victim they might not only end up captured, they could also end up dead.

Armed citizens perform an important role in crime deterrence.

Let’s get more well-armed and well-trained concealed carriers out there to make sure that violent crime doesn’t come without an unacceptably high risk to the criminals.