As someone who at one time considered himself as something of a film buff, I always loved a good heist movie.

The protagonists–I can’t call them “heroes,” exactly–working to try and deal with all the obstacles to try and get the goods, thieves so cool you just can’t dislike them, all of it makes a genre of movie that’s hard to dislike, even if robbery is a crime and the people who do it clearly bad guys.

At least for me.

But real life is different. While not every thief is violent–a great deal of them actually eschew violence, apparently–there are plenty who are looking for a big payday that won’t hesitate to kill in order to make it happen.

You can’t root for guys like that.

Unfortunately for one real-life crew that had an Oakland jewelry store in their sights, things didn’t work out all that well for them.

An employee of a local jewelry store in Oakland, California, gave two suspected armed thieves an unwelcome surprise on Monday when he opened fire on them with his weapon, FOX2 reported.

The worker, an owner of a 9mm handgun who did not want to be identified, said he saw a Toyota Camry approach the shop on the wrong side of the road, according to FOX2.

“I saw two guys creeping up really quick so I was like, it’s a robbery,” he said.

Both mask-wearing suspects had guns drawn when they entered the jewelry store, FOX2 reported.

In response to the suspects’ command, “Don’t move, or we’ll shoot,” the employee said he fired the first round from his 9mm because “they had the guns pointed at me,” according to the outlet.

The suspects fired back, and the firefight went “back and forth for like 20 seconds,” the employee said.

It seems the suspects both had magazines that are illegal in California, too–a drum magazine on a .40 caliber handgun and an extended one on a 9mm–so clearly those laws are working out quite well.

The employee wasn’t charged with anything, nor should he have been, but this is Oakland. I wouldn’t have been surprise if he had.

Yet the truth of the matter is that even in a duty to retreat state like California, the employee had no choice at all. The gun was on him and if he’d tried to escape, the odds are good that he would have been shot.

That left him no choice but to defend himself, which he did.

It does my heart good to see the good guy come out on top. While the bad guys are apparently still breathing, they took off running, which counts as a win.

Note, though, that the good guy here was outgunned. He complied with all of California’s laws while the bad guys didn’t. Fighting back was still enough to send them running.

The truth is, the people who carry out an armed robbery like this aren’t exactly the kind of folks who are prepared for armed resistance. They’re bullies. They want to intimidate people into compliance.

Armed robbery is a crime that often results in violence because violence is intimidating.

In this case, armed robbery almost got the robbers killed. I’m sorry if I’m refuse to be as broken up about it as some people seem to think we should.