Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 10:35:26 -0400
From: Mike Goldman <[w--g] at [pobox.com]>
To: My Friends <[s--s] at [liberty]>
Subject: RKBA: Hold-Up at Ritter's Diner
Message-ID: <[199510181437 KAA 05782] at [orion.sgi.net]>
Last night, six members of the Allegheny County Libertarian Party were
meeting informally and eating dinner in the back section of Ritter's Diner
in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh, beginning about 7pm. A vigorous
debate was taking place over an issue that has divided the county committee
for some time, and so more than two hours later, there we still were,
drinking coffee and talking. At about twenty past nine, we heard a
commotion in the front of the restaurant. Several waitresses ran into the
back room towards the back exit, and yelled, "Get out! Get out!" After a
moment of disorientation, we got up and moved towards the back door as well.
They were pushing on it, but it was not opening. Just as one of our members
managed to shove the door open, we heard a gunshot. We streamed out the
back, jumping over bushes, walls and other obstacles. Two of us and a
waitress ran into the Taco Bell next door, and yelled for them to call 911.
We spotted police cars across the street, and Dan Sullivan ran over and
banged on a car and told them to get over to Ritter's. The police went
over, but it was already all over.
Here's what happened. Three men had entered the restaurant and ordered
takeout. When the order was ready, one of them went to the cashier and
stuck a gun at his head, emptying out the register. Another gunman began
going from table to table, taking wallets from customers. He had robbed
three or four tables, when a customer at the next table up pulled out a .38.
Another customer saw that he had a shot, and yelled to shoot. The customer
fired a shot hitting the restaurant door, and the robbers fled. The
customer quickly left as well, and did not return.
When a television crew from Channel 2 (our CBS affiliate) arrived, I made
sure to tell them that the shot fired was by a customer, that if he had not
been armed, the scene could have been far worse. They asked why I thought
he'd left and not returned. I said I did not care, that he was a hero.
They didn't put this part of my interview on the air, only the dramatic
parts where I had explained how we'd gotten out, but did correctly report
that a customer had fired the shot, and chased off the robbers. (For some
unknown reason, they also reported that the robbers had had "automatic"
weapons, though since no shots were fired by them, there couldn't have been
any way of knowing this, and I strongly doubt it's accuracy.)
Anyhow, here's another example where an armed citizen may have saved lives,
and certainly prevented more folks from being robbed or a hostage situation
from occurring.
--
Mike Goldman <[w--g] at [pobox.com]>
From: "Dan Sullivan" <[p--ma--n] at [pobox.com]>
Organization: PA Fair Tax Coalition
To: [w--g] at [pobox.com]
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 13:25:53 -0500
Subject: Re: USA! RKBA: Hold-Up at Ritter's Diner
Reply-to: [p--ma--n] at [pobox.com]
Priority: normal
Robbery at Ritters Thwarted by Gun Owner
by Dan Sullivan 631 Melwood Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213
(412) 687-6663 e-mail <[p--ma--n] at [pobox.com]>
Permission granted to repost intact
PITTSBURGH, AUGUST 17 around 9:30 PM
Several members of the Libertarian Party and I were in the back room
at Ritter's diner on Baum Boulevard in Pittsburgh, discussing the
merits of land value taxation when two waitress bolted back and tried
frantically to get out the back door yelling "GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!"
The door appeared to be stuck.
"What is it, a robbery?"
"YES! GET OUT!"
We were already up and headed for the door when we heard a gunshot. I
slammed against the door while Harold Kyriazi pushed hard against the
exit bar; the door flew open and we ran to the Taco Bell next door.
"Call 911. Robbery in progress at Ritters." They looked dumfounded and
went to get the manager. The Ritters waitresses ran in behind us.
screaming "We're being robbed. Call 911!" Some people went out the
other side and kept running. Others were lying on the ground behind
walls or crouching behind cars. Still no response at Taco Bell until
the manager ambled up from the back and picked up the phone.
I ran out to the street in hopes of flagging down a police car. An
empty police car was just across Baum Boulevard in the Boston Market
(a.k.a. Boston Chicken) parking lot. I sprinted in the nearest door to
the three Pittsburgh Policemen, who were having dinner inside.
"ROBBERY IN PROGRESS! RITTERS! ACROSS THE STREET! GUNSHOTS FIRED!"
They bolted up and in seconds were across the street and had the
restaurant exits covered while the manager at Taco Belle was still
trying to relay information to the 911 operator. You couldn't ask for
a faster police response, but it was still too late. The robbery was
over and the robbers were gone.
I went back into Ritters and listened in as police interviewed the
other customers. Being careful to stay out of their way, I also talked
to customers and learned what I could. Three men had come into the
diner, ordered take out food and sat at the booth near the door. One
went to the front vestibule, ostensibly to use the pay phone. Another
went to the cash register, put a gun to the owners head and made him
open the money drawer. The third went from booth to booth demanding
wallets and purses. When a customer gave him an argument, he moved on
to an elderly couple in the next booth. He took about $60 from the
elderly man.
Then the elderly man saw that the customer who had given the robber an
argument now had a pistol in his hand under the table. He yelled
"Shoot them! Shoot Them!" The one robbing customers turned and headed
for the door. I don't have clear information on whAt the other two
did, but the customer with the gun fired once and the bullet went
through the glass front door, shattering it. The robbers bolted out
the door and up Powhattan street, which is the side street beside
Ritters.
Then the customer with the gun also ran out the door. At first people
thought he was giving chase, but he did not come back, and the
concensus is that he left to avoid the police. He might not have had a
gun permit of a concealed carry permit, and even if he did, it might
have been construed (aned in fact was) that he fired on robbers who
were fleeing, which is a violation of the law. One of the waitresses
recalled him as having patronized the restaurant from time to time and
having a kind and respectful demeanor.
My impression is that he was not playing "Dirty Harry," but was
being as careful and level headed as possible, and was doing exactly
the right thing, keeping the gun at the ready under the table in case
one of the robbers began firing. However, the elderly man behind him
gave away that he had a gun by yelling "Shoot them! Shoot Them! At
that point he was in real danger of being shot and in my opinion had
every right to shoot first.
A Powhattan Street boy on a bicycle, probably in his early teens, saw
the robbers in a dark colored Dodge Caravan. A car fitting that
description was found in the Larimar Avenue area. Police expect that
it was stolen.
A better lead comes from the Taco Bell next door. It turns out that
three young men matching the robbers' description had just been in the
Taco Bell shortly before the Ritters robbery and had looked
suspicious, as they hadn't ordered anything for several minutes. The
manager asked them if they were going to order anything, and one of
them asked for a job application. When the manager produced one, the
man went up to the counter, which is directly in front of a security
camera, took the application, and left with the other two. All three
are undoubtedly on camera, and there should be a clear close-up of the
one who took the application.
Eventually, Jennifer Ankowiak from KDKA TV showed up. She reported
that one of the robbers was armed with an automatic weapon, quoting
witnesses as saying he had put a large caliber pistol to the store
owner's neck. I didn't hear anything about an automatic weapon, and of
course there is no way of telling whether a weapon is automatic or
semi-automatic without either hearing it fired or taking it apart.
Besides, the people at Ritters were very excited and shaken, and
wouldn't have known an automatic weapon from a turnip. But it doesn't
make a good story to call it a turnip, or even a gun, so it must have
been an automatic weapon.
One thing is clear. It was a fluke that police had been across the
street in the Boston Market, and even then they could not respond in
time to interrupt the robbery. Even if the customer had not fired on
the robbers, they would have had time to rob the remaining customers
and flee. The on-duty police responding to the 911 call arrived a good
two or three minutes after that. If not for the customer with the gun,
the robbers would have had time to rob every customer in the main part
of the restaurant and still get away before police arrived.
I don't like guns, myself, but it is clear that police at their very
best (and they WERE at their very best in this case) are no substitute
for armed citizens in situatios like this.
Dan Sullivan
[p--ma--n] at [pobox.com]
The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.
--George Bernard Shaw