Armed Citizen Witnesses Robbery, Kills Suspects

Two masked and armed men robbed a convenience store in Pennsylvania on Monday afternoon.

William Medina, 24, and Robert De Carr, 18, stole cash, cigarettes, and lottery tickets from Krick’s Korner in Reading.  They terrorized store employees, pointing guns at them and making demands.

They fled the store, expecting to leave the scene in the getaway car driven by Alexander Garcia-Bialek, 21.

Instead, they were greeted by a citizen who witnessed the robbery from outside.

He told the thugs not to move and that he was calling the police.  A struggle ensued, and the suspects took out their weapons.

The citizen, whose identity has not been released, was also armed.  He shot the suspects in the chest, killing both men.

Police said the armed citizen was cooperative and has a license to carry. He was brought in for questioning and released after review of the store’s security camera footage and witness testimony corroborated his story.

“Very bold. He was very brave,” said Berks County District Attorney John Adams of the man who shot them. “He told these individuals to stop and ‘I am calling the police,’ and that is when these individuals drew their guns, and there was a little scuffle and I think that he used deadly force before deadly force may have been used on him.”

Another witness recorded the incident on a cell phone camera:

Adams said the video footage provides more evidence to support that the shooter acted appropriately:

“It corroborates the fact this shooting was justified,” Adams said. “The concerned citizen stayed at the scene until police arrived.”

The guns used in the robbery were stolen.  According to court documents, Alexander Garcia-Bialek, the getaway driver, admitted to investigators that he obtained the guns and gave them to the robbers.

Garcia-Bialek is facing 2nd degree murder charges.  According to Pennsylvania state law, he is liable for the deaths of his friends because he is an accomplice to a felony that involves the death of another person.

Police Chief Bill Heim told 69 News that a concerned citizen taking matters in is own hands is a rare occurrence:

“It is unusual, but it is certainly not unheard of. We have had several occasions over the past few years where citizens have been in such situations,” Heim said.

An armed man is a citizen.  An unarmed man is a subject.  One doesn’t have to stretch the imagination too far to realize how different this outcome might have been if that citizen wasn’t armed, or if he didn’t take action.