Woman fires at fleeing shoplifter, may face charges
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — A woman who has a concealed pistol license fired at a fleeing shoplifter earlier this week, but police said Wednesday that she was not being threatened when she decided to shoot at him multiple times in a parking lot.
The shooting happened around 2 p.m. ET Tuesday in a Home Depot lot as store security chased a shoplifter who jumped into a waiting sport utility vehicle that another suspect was driving, said Lt. Jill McDonnell, an Auburn Hills police spokeswoman.
“It’s my worst nightmare as a CPL instructor,” said owner Doreen Hankins of Detroit Arms, which offers Michigan concealed pistol license classes. “You have to know the entire situation before you pull that handgun out. And I don’t see that a shoplifter at Home Depot fills any of those criteria.”
When the SUV began to pull away, the concealed pistol license holder, a 48-year-old woman from nearby Clarkston, Mich., suddenly began firing shots at the fleeing vehicle. The vehicle escaped though one of the bullets may have flattened a back tire, McDonnell said.
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Police still are seeking to identify the suspects.
The shooter remained on the scene, cooperated with police, and was released pending an investigation. But gun-safety experts say the shooting details that have been released so far don’t look great for the shooter.
To use a concealed weapon in Michigan, a license holder needs to believe that the danger of death, great bodily harm or sexual assault is imminent or think someone else faces a similar danger, said Rick Ector, a firearms trainer who runs Legally Armed Detroit. He added that a gun is “truly a tool of last resort.”
“In that situation personally, there’s no way I would be shooting my gun,” said another instructor, Dawn Martin, with the Kalamazoo-based Viper Security Enforcement.
Concealed pistol license holders who misuse their guns can face a wide range of charges — among them felony firearm, reckless use of a firearm and felonious assault.
“None of it makes sense," Hankins, the owner of Detroit Arms, said of the shooting. "Even if it were law enforcement, they wouldn’t do that.”
Police officers are permitted to shoot at fleeing suspects only in very narrow circumstances. Justices in a 1985 Supreme Court case, Tennessee vs. Garner, ruled that officers could not shoot at a fleeing suspect unless that person posed a danger to the officer or others.
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“You are not a police officer," Hankins said. "You are not a person out there protecting the public at large.”
This Home Depot is part of a retail district with hundreds of stores in the area.
The shooting comes weeks after a bank customer in Warren, Mich., opened fire on an armed robber, causing the suspect to collapse from injuries. It’s not yet clear whether the bank customer will face charges.