Sparks2112
12-02-2011, 01:10 AM
I'll try and make this short but just a little background. I work at a gunstore that just recently opened. Most days it's just myself and the owner in the shop all day though occasionally we have a local retired guy who shoots a lot of ipsc hanging around just because he has nothing better to do. I'm sure you all know the type. Anyway had a situation in the shop today that I honestly thought was going to escalate into violence. I'll start from the beginning.
A few weeks ago we have a Caucasian urban youth come into the store to buy his first handgun having just turned 21. I don't really like him for some reason, he just felt off to me, but he calls me sir and seems otherwise polite so I spend some time with him and he leaves with a kel-tec p11. I tried getting him to go with a kahr cw9 but I literally watched him count change out of his bubble coat pockets to come up with the $249 plus tax we were charging for the thing. Still didn't feel good about him but hey, NICS said he was g2g.
Fast forward a week and we've got 4 or 5 customers in the shop and its me and the retired guy. As we are helping people out a car comes tearing into the parking lot, parks with its wheels on the side walk. Guy hops out and leaves his car running door open and jogs around the tail of his car towards our door. At this point the customers in the shop have parted like the red sea to give me a clear shot at the door which I'm facing while standing behind our counter. The retired guy I work with looks like he's having a heart attack and I find I've got my sidearm halfway out of its holster before I recognize the guy I sold the p11 to. His hands are empty so I kind of check my draw and leave my gun holstered. When he busts through the door he says "hey do you guys sell clean..." At this point I cut him off and chewed his ass for a bit about stupid people getting stupid prizes and explain that what he did looked a hell of a lot like the start of a really ill advised strong arm robbery. He apologizes, parks his car and comes back and buys a cleaning kit. Says sir, blah blah blah.
Fast forward another week and his mother comes into the shop to get the serial number of the gun he bought because her some had the cops called on him by his brother. P11 guy was at the local smoke shop when the cops tracked him down. They arrested him and while he was downtow someone broke into his impala (swear to god) forced the glovebox and stole his gun. We provide the serial number and after the mom leaves the owner and I have a discussion about how we are going to proceed when the guy comes back in to buy another gun. We decide that we aren't going to sell to him again if he comes back in and then proceed on with our business.
Fast forward another week to this morning. We've been open ten minutes, its the owner, myself, and the retired guy in the shop. We've been open 20 minutes and have 3 customers in there when I see p11 guy outside our store front smoking trying to gesture one of us to come out there. This is my first clue that my morning is maybe going to suck. I gesture to the guy that we aren't coming outside. He gestures again and retired giu starts to walk around the counter like he's going out to talk to him. I say "Don't go talk to him man, he can come in here if he's got something to say." retired guy looks like he spent know quite what to do when P11 guy gestures again. Retired guy being good natured starts to head his way again. "(name) stay behind the counter, he can come in here." I'm starting to wonder at this point if ive got a full grasp on what's going on here when the p11 guy gestures again. I see retired guy start heading his way again and decide he's not seeing what I'm seein here. "(retired guy's name) don't fucking go out there." Retired guy was a former marine and apparently that did the trick cause at that point it was like a dog hitting the end of his leash.
At this point the owner and the customers can all tell something odd is happening. P11 guy finishes his cigarette strolls in all 'gangsta' style and interrupts my boss and pretty much demands the serial number of the gun that was stolen.
P11: "My shit got jacked the other night and I need the serial number so I can tell the cops."
Owner: "Let me finish with this customer sir."
Me: "We already provided that to your mother sir, didn't she report it stolen?"
P11: "Yeah but I'm the first party owner do you have to provide it to me."
Owner to his customers: "I'll be right back with you." walk towards back of shop where fedbook is.
P11: "Ima need your birthday too."
Wtf?! The owner stops, looks at me then to P11 guy.
Owner: "You don't need my birthday. "
P11: "Yeah I do."
Owner: "For what?"
P11 : "To give to the cops, I want them to check you and your boy (me I guess) to make sure one of you didn't take my shit."
Now I'll admit, I escalated the situation with this next one.
Me: "You're dumb enough to leave your gun in your glovebox, get arrested, and think one of us was following you around just waiting for the chance to steal your shitty 250 dollar gun back from you?"
At this point p11 blows up, starts yelling and cursing, waiving his hands around, etc...
Owner: "Sir calm down I'm getting it for you now."
P11 guy is like someone flipped a switch. Calms down and turns to me.
P11: "Can you show me that (points to a Taurus tcp) I'm gonna buy another gun as soon as I get my insurance check."
Me: "I'm not showing you anything."
P11: "but I want to get another one."
Me: "you already got one stolen and you've had it two weeks we aren't selling you a thing."
P11: "What does the owner have to say about that?"
At this point the owner comes out from the back of the store hands him the serial to his gun and tells him "Heres the serial number, get out of my shop, you're tress passing."
P11 guy gets irate yells and screams and walks out of the shop mumbling about lawyers and getting us etc... He loiters in the parking lot for a few minutes at which point we call the cops (1:45 response time, guess giving them guns at cost paid off.) They show up, explain he's been officially notified to not step foot on the property again etc... Etc...
The situation resolves itself without further incident at this point.
A couple positives and negative take aways from this.
-My reaction time was great when the first mini incident with the car happened, and I liked that I checked my draw when I realized there wasn't an immediate threat.
-keeping my coworker inside was probably a good thing. We've now discussed not to go outside by ourselves for any reason if someone is trying to get us out there.
-I lost my temper and verbally escalated the situation when I absolutely should have kept my cool.
-We need a non-lethal option for the shop. Can of crowd control mace is under the counter next to the pistol grip mossberg.
I'd be curious of there's anything else I'm missing here as far as lessons go that you guys maybe see that I don't. Earlier call to the cops maybe? Let me know what uou guys think.
A few weeks ago we have a Caucasian urban youth come into the store to buy his first handgun having just turned 21. I don't really like him for some reason, he just felt off to me, but he calls me sir and seems otherwise polite so I spend some time with him and he leaves with a kel-tec p11. I tried getting him to go with a kahr cw9 but I literally watched him count change out of his bubble coat pockets to come up with the $249 plus tax we were charging for the thing. Still didn't feel good about him but hey, NICS said he was g2g.
Fast forward a week and we've got 4 or 5 customers in the shop and its me and the retired guy. As we are helping people out a car comes tearing into the parking lot, parks with its wheels on the side walk. Guy hops out and leaves his car running door open and jogs around the tail of his car towards our door. At this point the customers in the shop have parted like the red sea to give me a clear shot at the door which I'm facing while standing behind our counter. The retired guy I work with looks like he's having a heart attack and I find I've got my sidearm halfway out of its holster before I recognize the guy I sold the p11 to. His hands are empty so I kind of check my draw and leave my gun holstered. When he busts through the door he says "hey do you guys sell clean..." At this point I cut him off and chewed his ass for a bit about stupid people getting stupid prizes and explain that what he did looked a hell of a lot like the start of a really ill advised strong arm robbery. He apologizes, parks his car and comes back and buys a cleaning kit. Says sir, blah blah blah.
Fast forward another week and his mother comes into the shop to get the serial number of the gun he bought because her some had the cops called on him by his brother. P11 guy was at the local smoke shop when the cops tracked him down. They arrested him and while he was downtow someone broke into his impala (swear to god) forced the glovebox and stole his gun. We provide the serial number and after the mom leaves the owner and I have a discussion about how we are going to proceed when the guy comes back in to buy another gun. We decide that we aren't going to sell to him again if he comes back in and then proceed on with our business.
Fast forward another week to this morning. We've been open ten minutes, its the owner, myself, and the retired guy in the shop. We've been open 20 minutes and have 3 customers in there when I see p11 guy outside our store front smoking trying to gesture one of us to come out there. This is my first clue that my morning is maybe going to suck. I gesture to the guy that we aren't coming outside. He gestures again and retired giu starts to walk around the counter like he's going out to talk to him. I say "Don't go talk to him man, he can come in here if he's got something to say." retired guy looks like he spent know quite what to do when P11 guy gestures again. Retired guy being good natured starts to head his way again. "(name) stay behind the counter, he can come in here." I'm starting to wonder at this point if ive got a full grasp on what's going on here when the p11 guy gestures again. I see retired guy start heading his way again and decide he's not seeing what I'm seein here. "(retired guy's name) don't fucking go out there." Retired guy was a former marine and apparently that did the trick cause at that point it was like a dog hitting the end of his leash.
At this point the owner and the customers can all tell something odd is happening. P11 guy finishes his cigarette strolls in all 'gangsta' style and interrupts my boss and pretty much demands the serial number of the gun that was stolen.
P11: "My shit got jacked the other night and I need the serial number so I can tell the cops."
Owner: "Let me finish with this customer sir."
Me: "We already provided that to your mother sir, didn't she report it stolen?"
P11: "Yeah but I'm the first party owner do you have to provide it to me."
Owner to his customers: "I'll be right back with you." walk towards back of shop where fedbook is.
P11: "Ima need your birthday too."
Wtf?! The owner stops, looks at me then to P11 guy.
Owner: "You don't need my birthday. "
P11: "Yeah I do."
Owner: "For what?"
P11 : "To give to the cops, I want them to check you and your boy (me I guess) to make sure one of you didn't take my shit."
Now I'll admit, I escalated the situation with this next one.
Me: "You're dumb enough to leave your gun in your glovebox, get arrested, and think one of us was following you around just waiting for the chance to steal your shitty 250 dollar gun back from you?"
At this point p11 blows up, starts yelling and cursing, waiving his hands around, etc...
Owner: "Sir calm down I'm getting it for you now."
P11 guy is like someone flipped a switch. Calms down and turns to me.
P11: "Can you show me that (points to a Taurus tcp) I'm gonna buy another gun as soon as I get my insurance check."
Me: "I'm not showing you anything."
P11: "but I want to get another one."
Me: "you already got one stolen and you've had it two weeks we aren't selling you a thing."
P11: "What does the owner have to say about that?"
At this point the owner comes out from the back of the store hands him the serial to his gun and tells him "Heres the serial number, get out of my shop, you're tress passing."
P11 guy gets irate yells and screams and walks out of the shop mumbling about lawyers and getting us etc... He loiters in the parking lot for a few minutes at which point we call the cops (1:45 response time, guess giving them guns at cost paid off.) They show up, explain he's been officially notified to not step foot on the property again etc... Etc...
The situation resolves itself without further incident at this point.
A couple positives and negative take aways from this.
-My reaction time was great when the first mini incident with the car happened, and I liked that I checked my draw when I realized there wasn't an immediate threat.
-keeping my coworker inside was probably a good thing. We've now discussed not to go outside by ourselves for any reason if someone is trying to get us out there.
-I lost my temper and verbally escalated the situation when I absolutely should have kept my cool.
-We need a non-lethal option for the shop. Can of crowd control mace is under the counter next to the pistol grip mossberg.
I'd be curious of there's anything else I'm missing here as far as lessons go that you guys maybe see that I don't. Earlier call to the cops maybe? Let me know what uou guys think.