A jewelry store owner in Torrance, Calif., shot and killed an armed robber on Tuesday.
Just before noon, a man barged into Leilani’s Jewelers with a gun, but the owner was also armed and opened fire, said Sgt. Paul Kranke of the Torrance Police Department. The owner called 911 to report the incident, and when police arrived, they found a deceased individual with a gun by his side.
Police said that the suspect brandished a handgun before he was shot, but there is no evidence he fired. “The owner has a right to protect himself, and that’s what seemed to have transpired here today,” Kranke said. Police are calling the suspect’s actions a “crime of opportunity,” and the owner was uninjured. A friend of the owner told KTLA that the victim is “a really nice guy, a nice, soft-spoken guy. But when push comes to shove, he’ll take care of himself.”
