NORCO, CALIFORNIA: A California liquor store owner who is 80 years old and was caught on camera firing a shotgun at a would-be robber says, “I did a lot of hunting when I was a kid.”
The early-morning incident at Norco Market & Liquor in Norco, California, just east of Los Angeles, caused the armed suspect to leave his business while yelling, “He shot off my arm!”
“I would always look out for myself, my employees, and my clients. I was lucky that I was here by myself, so that was all I had to worry about. The store owner, who ‘CBS LA’ says is named Craig Cope, told the station, “I took care of it, and that was that.”
Cope also told “CBS LA”: “More people should vote, and they should vote the right way. I think the politicians should… This won’t make me popular with many people, but there are a lot of people out there who don’t know what it’s like to run a small business.
“And when they let people out… and let’s face it, we have bad people. Some people are bad. Bad people we don’t need. He also said, “We need to put them in jail because this is a scary situation.”
Mr. Cope told “FOX11” that he didn’t have much time to decide what to do because the man pointed the gun right at him.
“I didn’t think he deserved a chance. I knew it was a semiautomatic gun, and someone might have turned it into an automatic gun, which is the same as a machine gun, but I’m not going to let him fire the first shot at that point. “When I looked over and saw them getting out of the car with gloves, masks, and a gun, I knew what was going to happen,” he said.
The unidentified 23-year-old shooter was seen on surveillance video holding a rifle. He was later found at a nearby hospital “suffering from a gunshot wound consistent with a shotgun blast,” according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. He is still in critical but stable condition. When he gets better, he will go to jail.
Police say they have now taken into custody three more men who were in a getaway car during the attempted robbery. They are being investigated for robbery and conspiracy. According to media reports, Cope had a heart attack after the shooting and went back to work on August 2, 2022.