Charles Augusto is the Harlem business owner who shot four men attempting to rob his business, killing two and seriously wounding two with three shots from his pistol-grip Winchester pump. Christine Haughney reported in the NY Times that "Mr. Augusto called his years as a young man in the Coast Guard 'the only time I had any fun in my whole life.'"

The guy put the Semper in Paratus.

v/r - jb

Mr. Augusto had better lawyer-up fast. He may put the Semper in Paratus, but NYC and the families of his "victims" are gonna put him in the poor house... if he's lucky.

Was it attempted Armed robbery? If so, good for Mr.Augusto, and screw the lawyers

After Worker is Whipped With Glock, Store Owner, 72, Shoots 4, Police Say

Posted Aug 13, 2009, 06:23 pm CDT
By Martha Neil

Updated: After a 33-year-old worker inside a New York restaurant supply store allegedly was pistol-whipped with a 9-mm Glock by one member of a group of would-be robbers this afternoon, the 72-year-old owner of Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame Corporation took action.

He opened fire with his own shotgun, killing two members of the group and sending two others to the hospital, reports the City Room blog of the New York Times. The owner is identified in public records as Charles Augusto Jr.

Police say they don't believe the Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun that was used to shoot the four was registered, contrary to city law. It has a pistol grip handle and was recovered at the scene in Harlem, as was the Glock, the newspaper recounts.

The New York Post reports that three shots fired by the store owner struck all four men. Witnesses, including Vernon McKenzie, who rents an apartment in the building from Augusto, described a wild scene, with men running out of the building pursued by an angry employee following the sound of several shotgun blasts.

"He's been robbed before and I guess he was prepared," McKenzie tells the tabloid, referring to his landlord. "Those dudes ran into some real tough stuff today."

The New York Daily News reports that two of the men were shot in the back.

IMHO This is where "THEY" will get him. He should have let them go. Wonder what police record the 4 robbers have?

Jack

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The New York Post reports that three shots fired by the store owner struck all four men.

Three shots, four persons hit...that's Dirty Harry's definition of gun control: "If there's a gun around, I want to be controling it..."

"The New York Daily News reports that two of the men were shot in the back."

Just my opinion, but that is what usually happens to felons who try to flee the scene of their crime once they know a law abiding gun owner is willing to shoot back in defense of their life and property.

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The New York Post reports that three shots fired by the store owner struck all four men.

Scatter Gun
. . .. ...
.. .. . .
.
. .. . .

If guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns.

Good luck getting a jury of his peers to convict him for defending himself. And yes, I think shooting someone in the back is defending yourself, even if they are running away.

Just because they're running now, doesn't mean they won't come back to get you later. They came with guns to do mischief in the first place. Its their willful actions that brought them to that place with violent intent. To me, it doesn't matter a tinkers dam which side the entry wounds are on.

Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

LEDET-

I agree and think he couls easily walk on any charges other then possession of the unregistered weapon..

On the other hand, some sleazeball lawyer will no doubt contact the "poor innocent victims" families and sue the poor guy. The worst part, they might actually collect.

quote:

On the other hand, some sleazeball lawyer will no doubt contact the "poor innocent victims" families and sue the poor guy. The worst part, they might actually collect.

I wouldn't be surprized if that happened, or if the wounded thiefs actually found some loophole way to sue and jail the guy defending himself. I've seen court verdicts that made even less sense. I always wondered though what the Lawyers would say after they were placed in the same situation fearing for the life of their loved ones and their's.

Here's an update from the AP

Shopkeeper ‘didn’t want to shoot’ robbers
2 suspects dead, 2 injured after 72-year-old opens fire in New York City
updated 9:48 a.m. ET, Sat., Aug 15, 2009

NEW YORK - The sidewalk outside the Harlem store still was smeared with blood Friday, and the glass on the door still was blown out.

Above the entrance, someone had scribbled the words, "Abandon hope all ye who enter here."

Less than 24 hours after a deadly showdown at the shop worthy of a Clint Eastwood script, Charles "Gus" Augusto Jr. entered his store — oblivious of the inscription taken from Dante's "Inferno."
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

The 72-year-old wholesaler of commercial restaurant equipment had been up all night, questioned by police about how he'd drawn a shotgun and killed two of four armed robbery suspects who entered his Kaplan Brothers Blue Flame store Thursday afternoon.

Two of the young men died on the street. Two remained hospitalized in stable condition with gunshot wounds.

'Where's the money?'

When they walked in at about 3 p.m. and confronted Augusto with guns, "I didn't want to shoot them," he said, sitting bleary-eyed in his dusty, windowless warehouse, with a fly swatter hanging above his head.

He said the bandits drew their handguns, yelling, "Where's the money? Where's the money?"

They pistol-whipped a worker and waved a weapon at a cashier's face, he said.

"There is no money," Augusto said he told them. "Go home."

Stashed away nearby was the 12-gauge shotgun he bought decades ago and said he had never used since a test-fire. He reached for it when he sensed one of the men was about to shoot, and pulled the trigger once.

"I hoped after the first shot they would go away," he said.

When they didn't, continuing to menace his employees, he fired again, and again.

Police said one of the men collapsed and died outside the door, just feet from a Baptist church.

"He died in the hands of God," said a neighborhood resident, Vincent Gayle, pointing to the blood-spattered pavement by the church. "But what goes around comes around."

Trail of blood
Another fatally wounded suspect managed to cross the street, leaving a trail of blood before he collapsed. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, police said.

More blood led police to the other two suspects, who were arrested and taken to the hospital. Charges against them were pending.

Police said Augusto didn't have a required permit for the weapon used in the headline-grabbing shooting the Daily News called a "Pump-Action Ending."

But he was a victim, police said, and no charges had been filed on Friday.

"I'd rather not have done it," Augusto said, "and I'm sad for those mothers who have no sons."

On Friday, pedestrians were still sidestepping pools of blood along Augusto's block on West 125th Street, a short walk from Bill Clinton's Harlem office.

Reactions to the shooting were mixed.

Frida Rodriguez called it "a sad day" for the neighborhood.

Augusto "was defending his work, his business, so you could perceive that as being heroic," she said. "But on the other hand, these kids died."

The shopkeeper was coy when asked whether, with his shotgun confiscated, he had a backup.

"I'm not going to tell you that," he said.

Jack

Basing my comment solely on what I've read here. Too bad Mr. Augusto didn't prevent the other two from causing him problems in the future . Kudos to him for not being a victim .

This message has been edited. Last edited by: vftb,

I'd definitely keep an eye on this one. Would not surprise me one bit if an over zealous ADA goes after this guy. At the very least, for the registration issue. To make an example out him.

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Would not surprise me one bit if an over zealous ADA goes after this guy.

I'd be surprised. After all the zealous ADA's boss is an elected official sensitive to public sentiment - at least s/he is on Law and Order.

v/r - jb

Ron Kuby ring a bell?

Two Words: Bernard Goetz.

quote:

Originally posted by HonoraryMCPO:

quote:

Would not surprise me one bit if an over zealous ADA goes after this guy.

I'd be surprised. After all the zealous ADA's boss is an elected official sensitive to public sentiment - at least s/he is on Law and Order.

v/r - jb

Yeah, but do you think that NYC would be up in arms if the ADA went after this guy?

Did the perps have permits for their guns?

It was a pretty ballsy middle of the day attempted robbery. Bet it had happened before and they got away with it. Hopefully other victims of this group will come forward.

Maybe he got them in the back when they were pistol whipping his employee. At least two of them won't be pulling that stunt again. (Dead Men Don't Tell Tales!!)

Only in America can the perps be idolized for dying while committing a crime. There should be a law agaist suing on behalf of a person who died in the process of committing a crime. What would they be going after . . . money lost from future robberies?

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Originally posted by Fishstyx:

quote:

Originally posted by HonoraryMCPO:

quote:

Would not surprise me one bit if an over zealous ADA goes after this guy.

I'd be surprised. After all the zealous ADA's boss is an elected official sensitive to public sentiment - at least s/he is on Law and Order.

v/r - jb

Yeah, but do you think that NYC would be up in arms if the ADA went after this guy?

If history is any indication, the answer to this question would be "No".

Where is ANTI-GUN Mayor Bloomberg or the "Brady Bunch" on this issue? Oh, that's right they probably won't saying anything because the GOOD GUY WON! The idiot Mayor should come out and congratulate this man with has much gumption as he did when the idiot Burress shot himself! But he won't, he is probably stewing that someone stood up for themselves with a firearm and this would make him look bad!

GUNS

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Yeah, but do you think that NYC would be up in arms if the ADA went after this guy?

Your question presumes that NYC is univocal. That is, that all residents feel the same on this issue. I respectfully dispute that notion, and opine that there are many on both sides of this issue and many more that are preoccupied with their daily lives and challenges and who have paid (and will pay) only casual, passing interest to the issue.

v/r - jb