SFC(R)L
April 13th, 2009, 12:41 pm
Robbery suspect killed at AA meeting place
By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com
A robber who walked into the Columbia downtown Alcoholics Anonymous center, pulled out a gun and demanded money was killed in a burst of gunfire from an AA visitor’s gun, police said.
“Gimme what you got,” witnesses quoted the robber as saying when he entered the AA building at 2015 College St. in Five Points about 10:48 p.m. Saturday. They said he brandished a .25-caliber handgun.
At that point, as one AA visitor dropped something on the floor — possibly his wallet — another AA visitor pulled out his own pistol and shot the robber “multiple times,” police said.
Columbia police reported that an 18-year-old man who attempted an armed robbery of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting late Saturday night at the ACOA Club at 2015 College St. in Five Points was shot and killed by someone in the meeting who police say carried a legally concealed handgun.
Kayson Helms, 18, of Edison, N.J., was pronounced dead at Palmetto Health Richland at 11:24 p.m. Saturday.
Helms was identified by Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. His office notified the next of kin.
An autopsy Sunday showed bullets hit Helms in the abdomen, chest and neck, Watts said.
The AA visitor who fired his weapon and killed the suspect had a concealed weapons permit, police said.
Police declined to identify the shooter, saying an investigation is under way.
Police said they expect to release more information today after noon.
This is the second time in five weeks that a person with a concealed weapons permit has killed a person in the Midlands.
In early March, an Irmo pizza delivery man shot and killed an attacker who telephoned in a phony order. In that case, pizza man Christopher Miller shot and killed Paul Andrew Sturgill, 17, as Sturgill and three others tried to rob him, police said.
At twilight Sunday, the Columbia AA center, a popular destination in the city’s Five Points area, was deserted. A sign on the front of the low-swung block building read, “No Money Left in Club Overnight.”
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/747998.html
And so it begins
By JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com
A robber who walked into the Columbia downtown Alcoholics Anonymous center, pulled out a gun and demanded money was killed in a burst of gunfire from an AA visitor’s gun, police said.
“Gimme what you got,” witnesses quoted the robber as saying when he entered the AA building at 2015 College St. in Five Points about 10:48 p.m. Saturday. They said he brandished a .25-caliber handgun.
At that point, as one AA visitor dropped something on the floor — possibly his wallet — another AA visitor pulled out his own pistol and shot the robber “multiple times,” police said.
Columbia police reported that an 18-year-old man who attempted an armed robbery of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting late Saturday night at the ACOA Club at 2015 College St. in Five Points was shot and killed by someone in the meeting who police say carried a legally concealed handgun.
Kayson Helms, 18, of Edison, N.J., was pronounced dead at Palmetto Health Richland at 11:24 p.m. Saturday.
Helms was identified by Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. His office notified the next of kin.
An autopsy Sunday showed bullets hit Helms in the abdomen, chest and neck, Watts said.
The AA visitor who fired his weapon and killed the suspect had a concealed weapons permit, police said.
Police declined to identify the shooter, saying an investigation is under way.
Police said they expect to release more information today after noon.
This is the second time in five weeks that a person with a concealed weapons permit has killed a person in the Midlands.
In early March, an Irmo pizza delivery man shot and killed an attacker who telephoned in a phony order. In that case, pizza man Christopher Miller shot and killed Paul Andrew Sturgill, 17, as Sturgill and three others tried to rob him, police said.
At twilight Sunday, the Columbia AA center, a popular destination in the city’s Five Points area, was deserted. A sign on the front of the low-swung block building read, “No Money Left in Club Overnight.”
http://www.thestate.com/local/story/747998.html
And so it begins