Gun owner is charged for shooting at tires of fleeing shoplifting suspect
A Michigan woman with a concealed carry permit is facing a misdemeanor charge for firing her gun at the tires of a fleeing shoplifting suspect in a Home Depot parking lot last Friday.
The woman, Tatiana Duva-Rodriguez, 46, of Clarkston, is charged with reckless use, discharge or handling of a firearm, report Mlive.com, the Detroit Free Press, ClickOnDetroit and the New York Times.
Duva-Rodriguez fired at the fleeing SUV after an employee of the Auburn Hills store tried to stop one of the occupants from taking a cart of stolen merchandise. Duva-Rodriguez managed to shoot out one of the tires.
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper said in a statement that the shooting was dangerous because a bullet could have ricocheted and injured or killed someone else. “It would have been much more helpful for her to take out her cellphone and shoot pictures of the shoplifter’s license plate,” Cooper said.
Duva-Rodriguez’s attorney, Steven Schwartz, said his client was trying to help when she made “a split-second decision to take action.”
Police have arrested two suspects in the shoplifting incident.
Police are also considering whether to charge a customer at a Big R department store in Elkhart, Indiana, who fired as two shoplifting suspects got in their car on Monday. Elkhart Police Sergeant Chris Snyder told ABC57 that bystanders in such cases should remember key details to relay to officers rather than try to intervene.
“That weapon is there to protect yourself or others,” Snyder said. “And somebody that’s running away from you, getting in a car to even go further away from you, does that really pose a risk to you or to anybody else?”
