About ten years ago, a student from my high school was killed in a robbery. There was outrage over the incident -- especially over the fact that the man who admitted killing the teen was never arrested or prosecuted for the murder.

I'll never forget the anguished words of one of the dead teen's classmates --"I don't know why that man had to shoot him -- he was only trying to rob the gas station!"

Yeah, that's right. Folks were upset because the clerk at the gas station used a legal gun to shoot down an armed robber.

Which brings me to this case.

The family of one of the men who was shot by a retired United States Marine while they attempted to rob a Subway sandwich shop said the customer shouldn't have pulled the trigger.

According to Plantation police, two armed men barged into the Subway at 1949 Pine Island Road shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, demanding money from the employee behind the counter. When they tried to force John Lovell into the bathroom, he pulled out a gun and shot both men, police said.

Donicio Arrindell, 22, was shot in the head and later died at the hospital. Fredrick Gadson, 21, was shot in the chest and ran from the Subway, but police found him in hiding in some bushes on the property of a nearby BankAtlantic.

* * *

Gadson's grandparents told Local 10 on Thursday that Lovell was wrong for pulling the trigger.

"He should not have taken the law in his hands," said Rosa Jones, Gadson's grandmother.

Her husband, Ivory Jones, also condemned the media for its portrayal of Lovell's actions.

"I don't condone what they did, (but) I definitely don't condone the news people making him out to seem like they're making a hero out of this man because he shot somebody down," he said

Un-freakin'-believable! These folks are blaming the victim for defending himself from their criminal grandson and his thug-buddy.

Ivory and Rosa Jones are nothing but trash -- low-class, no-account trash, utterly lacking in morals and sense.

But I will agree with their one comment -- John Lovell shouldn't be a hero. What he should be is an example to every single American of how they should respond to crimes committed by punks like Donicio Arrindell and Fredrick Gadson. What he did should be the ordinary response to crime, not an extraordinary one. The fate of Donicio Arrindell and Fredrick Gadson should be the common result of criminal activity, not something that is newsworthy because it is unusual.

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