Woman who shot at tires of fleeing shoplifting suspect gets 18 months of probation
A woman was sentenced to 18 months of probation Wednesday for shooting at the tires of a shoplifting suspect fleeing a Home Depot store in suburban Detroit.
Charged with a misdemeanor for alleged reckless use of a firearm, Tatiana Duva-Rodriguez, 46, pleaded no contest in Rochester Hills District Court after the October incident, according to the Detroit News and WJBK. She had a concealed carry permit at the time of the shooting.
No one was hurt, and a shoplifting suspect and his alleged getaway driver were arrested several days later. However, a prosecutor suggested a ricocheting bullet could have caused injury and said it would have been better if Duva-Rodriguez had taken a photo of the license plate with a cellphone.
The Detroit News says a store loss prevention officer was chasing a man with a shopping cart, and Duva-Rodriguez, who heard a scream, said she thought the situation was more serious than it was. Neither man threatened her.
Her lawyer, Steven Schwartz, defended her use of the weapon in a split-second decision-making situation, WJBK reports.
“She’s there to help; saw something happening; thought it was serious; pulled her gun. She didn’t want to hurt anybody,” Schwartz said. “We didn’t know that there were any people in the parking lot, other than this person that was driving away this vehicle. She didn’t shoot it in the air; she didn’t shoot it at the window, at the windshield. She fired at the tires.”
Duva-Rodriguez, who cannot now have a concealed carry permit for eight years, said earlier that she had learned her lesson and “will never help anybody again.”
