'Sharpshooter' Gets Probation for Firing on Shoplifters

ROCHESTER HILLS, MI - A Clarkston woman described by her attorney as a “sharpshooter” was sentenced to probation Wednesday for opening fire to stop two suspected shoplifters from fleeing a Home Depot parking lot with stolen merchandise earlier this fall.

Tatiana Duva-Rodriguez, 46, was sentenced to 18 months probation after she pleaded no contest to reckless discharge of a firearm in October in 53-2 District Court in Rochester Hills, according to media reports. She could have faced up to 90 days in jail.

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Duva-Rodriguez’s concealed pistol license was revoked, and she won’t be eligible to reapply for a permit until 2023. Judge Julie Nicholson also prohibited Duva-Rodriguez from buying, possessing or carrying a firearm during her probation, and ordered her to perform 16 days of community service at the Oakland County Jail.

“Considering what’s going on in this world at present, it’s pretty darn scary. I would say somebody like Ms. Duva-Rodriguez should be able to open carry her gun,” Schwartz said. “If more people like Ms. Duva-Rodriguez were circulating our society, I believe there would be less crime and fewer people at risk.”

The incident unfolded the afternoon of Oct. 6, when Duva-Rodriguez used her handgun to flatten the tires of the alleged shoplifters’ Kia Rondo as it left the parking lot of a Home Depot on Joslyn Road in Auburn Hills.

Duva-Rodriguez told Nicholson that she made a “split-second decision” when she saw the two men leaving the parking lot after an employee yelled for help at the door of the store. She said she thought the situation was more serious than shoplifting.

“Maybe (the decision) was not the right one, but I was trying to help,” Duva-Rodriguez told the judge.

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“She thought, in the heat of passion, in the moment when she pulled the gun and fired it, that she was doing the right thing,” Schwartz added.

Nicholson said that though she believed Duva-Rodriguez was trying to help, her actions put others in the parking lot in danger.

“I don’t believe any malice was involved in what you were doing, but I believe you have to think about what could have happened,” the judge said.

The two shoplifters were arrested days after the incident. They reportedly traded the $499 nail gun and $669 welder they’d stolen for a gram of crack, The Oakland Press reported.