Monday, May 22, 2006



MI: One suspect hit, two sought in store shoot-out: "With any luck, the two men who were thwarted when trying to rob a Southfield convenience store might be easy to find. They might have been wounded, according to Detective John Harris, spokesman for the Southfield police. 'And all hospitals and doctors are required to notify authorities when they treat a gunshot wound,' he said. On the other hand, the two men may have been lucky and escaped without any bullet wounds -- even though a dozen or more shots were exchanged just before 1 a.m. Sunday, when they tried to rob the Franklin Liquor and Deli in the 28500 block of Franklin. ... The marksmanship of the owner, 29, and his 23-year-old clerk from West Bloomfield, was, however, good enough that a third would-be robber was hit three times, including once in the buttocks. He was identified as Jason Scott Klemas, 24, of Romulus who stood mute when arraigned Monday at a hospital bed in Providence Hospital."


Chicago led New York on frivolous gun suits: "Mayor Bloomberg isn't the first big-city boss to pull a sting operation on gun dealers. In a 1998 probe dubbed Operation Gunsmoke, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley had undercover cops posing as gang members go into area gun stores. Grainy video shot by investigators seemed to show gun merchants gladly allowing straw purchases -- the practice of legally authorized citizens buying guns for others. The sting was a public relations success, with footage shown on '60 Minutes' and elsewhere. But the operation had less success in court, where it was used in a civil case and several criminal prosecutions. ... The sting was initially to be the centerpiece of Chicago's landmark $433 million civil suit blaming the gun industry for urban violence. The suit was dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court last year."


Australia: Do or die couple beat invaders: "A retired Sydney baker has described how he turned the tables on armed robbers during a violent home invasion last night. He tricked the attackers into thinking they had bound him tight, then slipped free and grabbed the sawn-off shotgun they had left on a bench. The Vietnamese-Australian man, a retired baker, who does not wish to be named for fear of reprisal, told smh.com.au of the half-hour of hell he and his wife endured as the attackers beat them and ransacked their home. He also described why he felt compelled to risk his life by grabbing the loaded shotgun. "I know the reason they not cover their face,'' he said of the two robbers, whose identities were not obscured during the incident. "After they finish they will kill us.''.... One of the thieves fled out the back door immediately upon realising his victim had the gun. "The other one was in the lounge room, so I chased him. "He was hiding behind a wall and I said, 'I've got the gun! Come here! I've got the gun!' and he came out and put two hands on the back of his head'.'' He then hit the robber three times with the barrel of the gun.... The robber, bleeding from the wounds on his head, turned tail and ran through the back door and out into the rear yard, where he left a trail of blood drops on a concrete path. Police discovered a gardening glove worn by one of the offenders at the base of the rear fence, along with a large amount of blood. A dog unit was called to the scene to try to track the offenders but the trail was already cold."

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