Customer Opens Fire on Bank Robbery Suspect

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A customer opened fire on a man who had just robbed a southeast Michigan bank Monday, inflicting non-life-threatening injuries that detained the suspect until police could arrive.

Warren Mayor Jim Fouts told the Detroit Free Press the customer was justified in taking action when a 43-year-old suspect robbed the Citizens Bank near Nine Mile and Van Dyke in Warren at gunpoint late Monday afternoon. The suspect reportedly was about to get away with “a large amount” of cash before the 63-year-old customer, also armed, stepped in and shot him three times.

Fouts said that though he “would caution people against using firearms unless absolutely necessary,” the customer had a Second Amendment right to carry a handgun and had a concealed weapon permit.

“I’m happy that no one was seriously injured,” Fouts told the newspaper. “He apparently exercised some caution by not shooting the robber in a vital area.”

The suspect, who was shot once in each arm and once in a leg, managed to make it out of the bank before he fell, dropping the loot. He was handcuffed by police while still on the ground and was taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance.

He is expected to recover, and it doesn’t appear the customer who shot him will face charges.

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Photo by Flickr user Klaus With K via Wikimedia Commons