A pizza delivery driver in Dallas was forced to defend his life when he was attacked by three armed robbers on Tuesday night. The driver, whose name has not been released by police, was making a delivery at an apartment complex around 10 p.m. when he was confronted by three would-be robbers. From the Dallas Morning News:

A pizza delivery driver fired back at three men who were trying to rob the driver Tuesday night, Dallas police said, fatally shooting one and critically injuring another.

Officers found the two people shot around 10:15 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 8100 block of Southwestern Boulevard.

Both were taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, where one of them died. The third suspect was arrested at the scene, police said. Their names were not released.

That’s some pretty bare-bones reporting on the part of the local paper, but the CBS affiliate in Dallas was able to provide a little more information about the case, including the fact that the armed robber who was shot and killed was just fifteen years old.

According to police, two 15-year-old suspects allegedly tried to rob the Papa John’s pizza delivery driver at gunpoint, but the driver had a gun and shot at them to fend them off. Police said he was licensed to carry.

Police said two of the suspects were shot and that one of them died from his injuries. The other was treated at the hospital.

The surviving suspect was taken into custody and charged with aggravated robbery. His identity was not released.

It is tragic that a fifteen year old kid was running around committing armed robberies, and it’s a shame that he put that armed citizen in a situation where he had to use his legally carried gun in self-defense. I’m very thankful, however, that this driver was armed for his protection, especially given the fact that earlier this week, another deliver driver in the Dallas area was shot four times at another apartment complex.

A 33-year-old man was arrested for allegedly shooting a DoorDash delivery driver four times after they got into a fight Monday morning in Dallas, police said.

Travis Jahns faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Jahns was arrested after police say he was involved in a verbal and physical altercation with the delivery driver prior to the shooting…

The complainant told police that he was delivering the food when Travis Jahns accused him of taking food from the order and the two started arguing. The complainant told Jahns they could go outside to fight and started to walk away. Then Jahns asked him where he was going and the complainant told him that he was going outside to “beat his ass,” the arrest affidavit said.

They started to argue more then the complainant punched Jahns in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, the arrest affidavit said. The complainant said Jahns pulled out a gun from his waistband and the complainant started to run out of the lobby when Jahns shot at him four times.

Armed robberies like the one that happened in Dallas on Tuesday night are far more common than fights over food that lead to shots being fired. Even in the day and age of online payments, delivery drivers are still targeted by criminals on a regular basis who see them as easy marks with at least some cash on them. It’s why many drivers choose to carry, even if their company policies don’t allow them to carry on the job. Better to look for new unemployment than to lose your life over a pepperoni pizza and the forty bucks you have in your wallet, after all.

My sympathies go out to both the driver forced to act in self-defense and the family of the 15-year old who lost his life in the armed robbery. It’s heartbreaking that this kid made the bad decisions that he did, but the driver is not to blame for defending his own life. Self-defense is a human right. Armed robbery is not.