Armed Liquor Store Owner Wins Showdown With Robber

Had the robber of in Perry Hall known his target better, he may have thought twice about pulling a knife on the store's longtime owner.

The owner, a man in his 60s who requested not to be identified, is a Vietnam War veteran who sports an ever-present parrot on his shoulder and who displays a cardboard cutout of Clint Eastwood near the front of the store.

For the 20 years since it opened, the owner has kept a handgun in the store. But afternoon was the first time he ever fired it.

The liquor store was last week. What made this situation different, however, was that when a robber pulled a knife, the owner fought back.

"He brought a knife to a gunfight," the owner said in an interview with Patch Tuesday afternoon.

On Nov. 1, that a Parkville man, Damien Paul Dmitruk, had been arrested and charged with the armed robbery of the liquor store. Dmitruk was also charged with the armed robbery of a Perry Hall tobacco store two days prior. Another Parkville man, Scott Lewis Hundertmark, who police said drove the getaway vehicle from the liquor store, was also .

The arrests brought the store owner some consolation.

"I hope they keep him locked up," he said.

The is a neighborhood fixture. The owner greets nearly every customer by name. Elton John plays through a raspy radio, the Clint Eastwood display stands next to a gurgling fish tank and the Senegal parrot named Henry nibbles affectionately on the owner's ear.

The owner is often in the store by himself. About four years ago, a opened in a neighboring shopping center, hurting business.

"My sales have been cut in half," he said. "I sold all of my stocks, canceled my health insurance and I don't have any employees."

The owner said he's learned to rely on his "gut feelings" about suspicious customers.

"I knew when [the robber] came in, something about him just didn't feel right. I've been doing this 20 years. You get to know people," he said. "When another customer was getting his lotto ticket, I said, 'I need to watch this guy.'"

Most of store's customers are regulars. "They know where everything is, they come in, they get their product and go. They don't hang around for 15-20 minutes," he said.

But this stranger wandered around the store for several minutes, never touching any of the bottles, the owner said. He grew suspicious.

Shortly after noon, all the other customers had left.

"I said, 'You've got to buy something or you've got to leave, but you can't hang out here,'" the owner said.

He was standing behind the counter, near the register, around the corner from the door.

Suddenly, the stranger swung a knife at him, up and down, the owner said. He held onto the sidewall and leaned back—"like Keanu Reeves"—to avoid being stabbed.

The owner then reached for his handgun and chased the man.

"That's when he bolted out that door like lightning," he said. "He knew when I was reaching, I was reaching for something bigger than he had."

Gun in hand and bird still on shoulder, the owner swung open the door and ran down the sidewalk. He said he saw the man climb into the passenger side of an SUV. He recognized the driver as a previous customer at the liquor store.

He took three shots in the direction of the vehicle as it sped away. "I wasn't trying to shoot him ... I wanted to disable the car, break a window or something. I didn't want to kill the guy," he said.

Neither the vehicle, nor any person, was shot during the incident, police said.

"I guess if there's comedy in all of this—the bird was on my shoulder the whole time," the owner said.

Was the owner justified in taking shots at the suspect? Tell us in the comments.

The store owner said he was caught up in the heat of moment, as if it were a flashback to his military service in Vietnam.

"I can honestly say, when this all took place, when I pushed that door open to chase him, the only thing I saw outside that door was jungle. I didn't see Belair Road," he said. "That was just my reaction, everything was pumping."

By this time, had clouded the area.

Police soon swarmed the business and surrounding area and the owner was given a stack of paperwork to fill out.

One detective, the owner said, approached him and said that while keeping a registered handgun in his business was legal, shooting it outside in the parking lot was crossing a line.

"He said, 'Look, you can't do that. We're the police and we can't even do that,'" the owner said, although he was told that no charges would be pursued against him.

Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman, said no charges had been filed against the owner and investigators believe he acted in self defense.

"He has the right to defend himself," Armacost said, adding that business owners may legally keep registered handguns on their property.

Later that afternoon, following the robbery, police say Hundertmark entered the Parkville police precinct and said he was forced against his will to drive a getaway vehicle from the liquor store. He later admitted that he participated in planning the robbery, according to a police press release.

The owner later identified Hundertmark as a previous customer at the store and also as the driver of the vehicle he had shot at, he said. Dmitruk was arrested and charged on Monday, police announced.

Regular customer Paul Stadler, owner of the Kingsville-based Windows and Doors, Inc., said he was proud that the owner defended himself.

"[The robbery] doesn't surprise me, the way things are going right now, but I'm really excited that he's fine and everything worked out," Stadler said. "I've always thought business owners should carry guns. I'm just glad [he] felt strong enough to pull the gun out."

Over the past 20 years, the owner said he can remember only two incidents of theft. In the first, he noticed some missing merchandise after a person left the store. In the second, he noticed a bottle in a man's sweat pants as he walked out of the store. The man returned the bottle after he realized police were coming, the owner said. The owner decided not to press charges because the man agreed to never set foot in the store again.

The owner, however, said he tries to be prepared for anything. At least four surveillance cameras, as well as several mirrors adorn the store.

"People who tend to see themselves in the mirror, they won't steal ... it's psychological," he said.

The front door also has a bell, he said, because, "I don't like being surprised."