https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...inside-security.html


Armed employee who was sleeping inside a store to provide extra security during coronavirus lockdown is arrested for shooting teen robber who tried to break in



Police in Virginia have arrested a store clerk who is accused of opening fire on three robbers and wounding one of them while staying inside the business overnight for security during the coronavirus lockdown.

The incident took place early Sunday morning at Arlington Smoke Shop on Shirlington Road in the Green Valley neighborhood.

Store employee Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, of Washington DC, was charged with malicious wounding, reckless handling of a firearm and violation of a protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun. He is being held without bond.

According to a press release from the Arlington County Police Department, officers were dispatched to the store just before 5am on Sunday and came upon a teenage robbery suspect suffering from a gunshot wound.

He was taken to a hospital to be treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries.

A subsequent investigation uncovered that the injured juvenile and two others broke into the Smoke Shop and began stealing merchandise and cash.

Abushariah, who was sleeping in a secure back room, heard the break-in, grabbed a gun, opened the door to the sales floor and fired shots, wounding the teenage intruder.

According to the police, Abushariah then 'retreated to the back room but reentered the sales floor and discharged his weapon again as the subjects were attempting to flee the business.'

The other two robbers escaped unharmed and fled on foot. Police said breaking and entering charges were pending against all three suspects.

Store owner Jowan Zuber told the station WJLA he is outraged that his employee has been criminally charged for using one of the two guns he had legally purchased and registered two weeks ago to defend his shuttered business during the lockdown.

Zuber argued that Abushariah's actions should have been classified as self-defense.

Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti declined to discuss the specifics of the case but noted that there is evidence that supports the charges.

'The decision was not made lightly, and we ask the public not to rush to judgment on what is very much a live investigation,' she stated.

Abushariah's employer said the 33-year-old has two children and was staying at the smoke shop both to provide security and to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus, which had struck his apartment complex in DC.

Zuber was interviewed by Tucker Carlson on his nightly Fox News show on Tuesday and described the incident as 'mind-boggling.'

'It's very sad for America today as American citizens practice their Second Amendment to protect the store and their lives,' Zuber told Carlson. 'Do you know what the police officer told [Abushariah]? "Why didn't you run out the back door?"'



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protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun

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reentered the sales floor and discharged his weapon again as the subjects were attempting to flee the business

In Virginia it's illegal for a prohibited person to possess a gun, and also illegal to shoot people who are fleeing, even if they really, really pissed you off.

This one could have several twists that support the charges. Gonna get some Jiffy Pop and wait 'er out.

If Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington counties along with the "independent city" of Alexandria were annexed to DC, maybe Virginia could be saved.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

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protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun

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reentered the sales floor and discharged his weapon again as the subjects were attempting to flee the business

In Virginia it's illegal for a prohibited person to possess a gun, and also illegal to shoot people who are fleeing, even if they really, really pissed you off.

Exactly. Play stupid game, win stupid prizes. Vape liquid isn't worth going to jail or killing someone over...

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Originally posted by Scurvy:

Vape liquid isn't worth going to jail or killing someone over.

Nobody was killed.

The article said that the thieves "began stealing merchandise and cash." I suppose that it could be argued that cash should not be left in the store overnight unless it's in a safe, but that gets into the territory of blaming the victim instead of blaming the thieves who broke into the store.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Scurvy:

Vape liquid isn't worth going to jail or killing someone over.

Nobody was killed.

The article said that the thieves "began stealing merchandise and cash." I suppose that it could be argued that cash should not be left in the store overnight unless it's in a safe, but that gets into the territory of blaming the victim instead of blaming the thieves who broke into the store.

Either way it's a felony just to pick up the gun, even if you ignore the shooting people as they flew

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Store employee Hamzeh Abushariah, 33, of Washington DC, was charged with...violation of a protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun.

Store owner Jowan Zuber...is outraged that his employee has been criminally charged for using one of the two guns he [the store owner] had legally purchased and registered two weeks ago to defend his shuttered business during the lockdown.

I would be interested in gaining a better understanding of what this "protective order" is based upon. That is one of the two principle issues at work here, IMO (the other being shooting someone fleeing/no longer a threat).

Just because the store owner can possess a gun doesn't mean his employee can possess/handle one. Shouldn't the store have known this? If not, why not? In a sense, the store owner may have screwed over his employee.

It also makes me wonder of charges can be brought against the store owner for making his guns available to someone with a protective order barring him from being in possession of a gun.

No wonder Captain John Carter wanted leave Virginia, after all.

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Originally posted by RichardC:
No wonder Captain John Carter wanted leave Virginia, after all.

More likely it was Dejah Thoris.

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Just because the store owner can possess a gun doesn't mean his employee can possess/handle one. Shouldn't the store have known this? If not, why not? In a sense, the store owner may have screwed over his employee.

I disagree; if the guy had never armed himself, not to mention fired shots at fleeing thieves the police would have never known he was a prohibited person in possession. Personally I have no problem with protecting personal property- a lot less thieving would be going on if people thought they might get shot doing it, but the law is what it is.

I guarantee if this guy was prohibited, it was spelled out to him somewhere that he could not possess firearms. He chose to unprohibit himself so this is on him.

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Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Scurvy:

Vape liquid isn't worth going to jail or killing someone over.

Nobody was killed.

The article said that the thieves "began stealing merchandise and cash." I suppose that it could be argued that cash should not be left in the store overnight unless it's in a safe, but that gets into the territory of blaming the victim instead of blaming the thieves who broke into the store.

So he was shooting at them just to wound them or scare them away? He didn't know they were gonna live when he started pulling the trigger. He's lucky they survived.

He was in a secured room and as in no danger. He came out of the room to shoot them, went bad into the secued room and then left again to shoot them more while hey we're fleeing.

That gets you arrested anywhere, not just Virginia... That's ignoring the whole prohibited person aspect.

I have less sympathy for the “teens” who were just innocently burglarizing the business than I can muster up for the clerk, but very damn little for any of the nitwits involved here.

Texas law allows a person to shoot a fleeing burglar under certain circumstances. And I’m fine with that.

From what I’ve read, several big cities have basically announced that property crimes won’t be prosecuted, leaving the only deterrent to a thief the possibility of being shot. Are people just supposed to cower in their “safe rooms” while gangs of thieves steal property they have spent their lives working for? That’s bullshit.

Abushariah law.

I wonder what the details of the protective order are. Is he a felon, or was it some sort of temporary order due to an ex-GF?

I am all for protecting personal property, whatever force necessary.

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Originally posted by Joe123:
I am all for protecting personal property, whatever force necessary.

It wasn't his personal property.

If the store is stripped bare, it goes under, he is out of work. His property or not, it's his livelihood. Screw the thieves that want something from him or the owner. The thieves deserve the lead, that's all they deserve.

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Originally posted by Joe123:
If the store is stripped bare, it goes under, he is out of work. His property or not, it's his livelihood. Screw the thieves that want something from him or the owner. The thieves deserve the lead, that's all they deserve.

So you don't think they were insured?

^^^ What if this was 'your store' or a Gun store....Still think it's an 'Insurance Matter'?