Toledo Blade: Robber Killed by Store Clerk While Scooping Up Cash Is 'Victim'
I admit that I haven't kept up with trends in establishment press local crime coverage. But an item at Toledo-area blogger Maggie Thurber's place about a robbery-related story in Monday's Toledo Blade caught my attention. I hope the perspective Maggie saw on display is an outlier. I'm concerned that it may not be.
You see, someone robbing a convenience store in the Glass City was killed during the attempt, and the "Blade Staff" in the unbylined story called him a victim -- twice:
Story Continues Below Ad ↓Person fatally shot in North Toledo
Victim was suspect in apparent robbery attemptToledo police are at the scene of a convenience store robbery in North Toledo where one person has been fatally shot.
The deceased was identified by police as Lamar Allen, 25, of Toledo.
The incident occurred about 9:45 a.m. at the Express Carryout, 1920 Mulberry St.
The two adult male suspects were in the process of emptying the store's cash register when the clerk fatally shot one of them, said Toledo police Sgt. Joe Heffernan. The victim, who was struck multiple times, collapsed right in front of the counter.
It was unclear whether the second suspect, who fled the store, was hit by a bullet or got away with any cash. He was last seen running toward Stickney Avenue.
Victim? Last time I checked, someone trying to rob a convenience store was referred to as an (alleged) "perpetrator," "robber," "suspect," or "criminal." It is undoubtedly awful that Mr. Allen was shot dead while carrying out his robbery (the Blade "somehow" doesn't mention whether he was armed or pretended to be), and especially so for his family, relatives, and friends. But that doesn't make him a victim, and by inference, it doesn't make the store clerk a perp.
Maggie expounded on the matter a bit:
The bottom line is that the story could have been written and reported on without such biased words being used. But liberal bias in our local daily is a given, rather than the exception.
I have more concern for the store clerk. Even in self-defense, it must be a terrible thing to know you have taken someone's life - and logic about it being the 'right' thing is usually not enough to overcome the feelings that must result.
So is characterizing criminals as "victims" killed or otherwise harmed something seen only occasionally in the far-left Blade, or an growing trend in irresponsible journalism? I certainly hope it's the former.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
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Comments
This is the rule, not the
Submitted by ant on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:14pm.
This is the rule, not the exception. I had mentioned a few weeks ago a story about a good samaritan that shot the man of a brother/sister duo that was pistol whipping the woman they had just robbed. When the good samaritan, with a carry permit, was shot at by the male perp, he shot back, and unlike the perp, didn't miss. The local paper not only did a special story on the perps mother, but wanted the "vigilante" prosecuted. (he wasn't). The sister of this duo was arrested, the brother died, the write-up in the newspaper went something like this;
" Octavia (the sister) has been ENSNARED in the criminal investigation; she was the last person to see her brother as he lay dying in her arms.."
See how that works? Ensnared connotes 'innocently caught up in' not arrested for being a scumbag, pistol-whipping thief. Also note the violins playing for the man's touching final scene, which would have never happened if he also wasn't a scumbag, pistol-whipping thief.
This is not the only case of this BS I have observed in my own local papers. One 'reporter' concerning a serial armed-robber of businesses wrote in a local paper, "..this is usually the kind of bandit one roots for..". This, BTW, was not an op-ed and the man was not Robin Hood. Now, I would probably agree if the bandit were going around terrorizing newspaper offices, even a little pistol-whipping then wouldn't bother me, but alas, the targets are usually just teens working in a convenience store.
Lesson learned
Submitted by Agnostic on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 9:56am.
If you shoot someone - before the media shows up make sure you put a Rush Limbaugh newsletter in the persons hand and Glenn Beck button on their shirt - the media will treat you like a hero!
wonder how
Submitted by misterbee241 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 10:42am.
they would have wrote it had the good samaritan bee killed by the perp?
Gee, ...
Submitted by Newsbubba on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:14pm.
... I think of the robbers as the targets."
And damned fine shooting it was, clerk! My congratulations on your outstanding "gun control."
Nothing like a good DRT* story to get the holidays rolling :-)
Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:18pm.
The store clerk deserves a community service award.
He probably saved an innocent person's life somewhere down the road - maybe even the clerk and a customer or two in the next store the scumbag was planning to rob.
Or maybe even his own life.
And if the perp was a "victim," they were one of their own stupidity.
-Dave
*Dead Right There.
Vote for the American in November
So right
Submitted by UpChuck.Liberals on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:47pm.
Gun control is double tapping your Tango. I agree, the clerk deserves an award for saving the city and state a significant amount of money. Liberals just don't quite get it until they're the subject of a crime THEN they become Conseratives.
In Canada...
Submitted by DumbCanuck on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 9:02am.
The store clerk would have been charged, prosecuted, probably found guilty, and sentenced to time in jail. Say what? You don't believe me? Ok, then... here comes the sources....
http://www.canfirearms.ca/Skeeter/Buckner/Chapter%
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/20/man-faces-jail-after-protecting-home-from-masked-attackers/
http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2011/01/self-defence-not-in-canada.html
http://panda.com/canadaguns/#uses
And it took me all of thirty seconds to retrieve about 6.2 million results using these search parameters on google: " canada shoot self-defence charged prosecuted"
(Note: if the links don't work, paste them in manually. I don't know why I'm having trouble linking to these urls.)
"There... Are... Four... Lights!"
Well, Canuck, don't speak too
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 9:50am.
Well, Canuck, don't speak too soon - there's still time for some lawyer to take this case and go after that evil and uncompassionate store clerk who ended the life of this poor victim, and you can be damn sure that it's going to happen in some way or another.
This is a strange time.
Submitted by KyWriter on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:18pm.
All acts have consequences and robbery has always been consequential, but liberal reporting has so skewed the process that the victim is no longer the truly victimized. Instead, the perp has become the victim and his acts are excused by his environment, his parentage (or lack of), or even the refined sugar he put on his morning cereal. Personally, I admire the store clerk's shooting skills.
Can't resist
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:28pm.
"The law is far, the fist is near." - Korean proverb
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
I used to be a pretty
Submitted by poseA on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:37pm.
I used to be a pretty hardcore metal head. Looking and listening back, I realize most of the music I listened to had a distinct libertarian tone.
Is that what you find as well?
Hmmmm...
Submitted by Unsane on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:23pm.
I'm not sure...depends on the band, the time period of the music, and so on. In the case of Slayer: at first, it was about attention getting lyrics. Take the Hell Awaits album. The entire album is about nothing more than death, killing people, and Satan. (Hell Awaits is one of my favorites because the music is just so frigging technical: the opening portion to "Kill Again" is simply insane!) Later on their themes changed: on the Divine Intervention album, where "Fictional Reality" is from, the album is simply about how violent and cruel man is to their fellow man, especially in the quest for power and control of others (including such songs like "213", their ode to Jeffrey Dahmer).
If you truly want libertarian themes in music, I'd say you should turn to early Rush (2112 is more or less entirely inspired by Ayn Rand).
"CONSUMED DEMOCRACY RETURNS A SOCIALIST REGIME" - Slayer, "Fictional Reality", from Divine Intervention (1994)
Personally,
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:52am.
I find a lot of them to be angry hippies. Lots of war imagery and death with what I find to be anti-war sentiment. Take "War Ensemble" as an example.
Then again, where do you put Cannibal Corpse? No real ideology there, just shock value.
Bands like Voivod can be pretty deep. Death Angel had some pretty deep moments too. "A Room with a View" and "Discontinue" are among my faves.
I also think where the bands are from makes a difference. Lots of anti-God stuff in the Black Metal genre from places like Norway and Finland, (as opposed to anti-religious music such as Slayer does. While Tom is Catholic, Kerry King is definitely atheist, and hates religion probably more than even bill maher).
I guess I either don't see much in the way of ideology, or haven't noticed it. Some are political, some are theatrical, and some are good enough musicians to be neither.
"He was a good kid.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:49pm.
He was gonna be a rapper."
But, alas...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:24pm.
He's just a dirt napper.
Jer
'tho I hear at the funeral...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:50pm.
He was lookin' mighty dapper.
Jer
Testify, Jer, Testify!!!!!!
Submitted by NC Cop on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:07am.
Testify, Jer, Testify!!!!!!
Alas
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:40am.
Another life flushed down the crapper.
Rats !!
Submitted by creekrat on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 8:43am.
He could a made us all a foot tapper !
I love this blogsite !
If he was gonna be a rapper,
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:15am.
If he was gonna be a rapper, then he'd be a gum flapper as well as a loud yapper!!!
Do they {the 20% liberal}
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 8:54pm.
Do they {the 20% liberal} really think they sway "moderates/independents" with this bs? They must think they do, which is why 2010 was *such* a shock to them, and 2012 is going to give them a coronary!!!
Ronald Reagan
Stories like this make me
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:04pm.
Stories like this make me very happy. Thieves are scum and need to be death with. I wonder how many criminal acts "Lamar" has gotten away with since he learned to be a criminal. Well, nice that he finally paid the piper.
Bounty pay for cost savings...
Submitted by MaximusBraveheart on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:35pm.
Criminals would likely retire if a bounty was paid as a percent of the savings when justified force is used to permanently end a criminal career path. Few consequences now. Justice delayed is justice denied.
-- Maximusbraveheart -- Is TRUTH knowable? Moral Relativism is the abandonment of Truth. Truth is knowable. Truth conforms to Reality. Reality is observable by evidence & witness in this day & from history. Relativism is Sesame Street play land.
He is a "Victim"
Submitted by Dan Diego on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:08pm.
A victim of the Democrap Party's "Why fish when you can rob the fisherman" policies.
A fisherman ate his pie, he had no choice.
It is undoubtedly awful that Mr. Allen was shot dead
Submitted by Franksam on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:13pm.
Well, somebody does have to clean it up.
This reminds me of the media
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 9:39pm.
asking whether human mutilator Willie Horton could ever forgive George HW Bush for his "racist attacks" on Horton. This prince cut off a guy's genitals and crammed it in his mouth as Horton made him watch him rape and mutilate his girlfriend.
And the press wanted to know, when W was running for office, if this casualty of the political machine could forgive Bush Sr. for what "he had done to him".
This told me that there are no depths that the liberal press cannot fathom.
Wow, Q-socialist...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:15pm.
I missed that one. Got a link?
Jer
Willie Horton, of course!
Submitted by ant on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:02am.
Horton was released on a 48 hour furlough from which he never returned. He tied up and tortured a man in his home in Maryland, eventually the man's 28-year old fiancee came home from work and she was violently raped twice and cut up before Horton stole their car and left. I should of mentioned him in the discussion we had before when I said libtards are fond of releasing rapists and dangerous criminals out into the general public. Perfect example. Him and a guy named John Zukoki, also released by Democrat Dukakis, who then went on to rape and savagely beat another woman (He was already in jail for raping and murdering a woman). In fact, after Massachusetts supreme court OK'd a measure to furlough murders and rapists with life sentences, the legislature wrote a bill opposing and cancelling the court's decision, which Dukakis (a liberal democrat) then vetoed. In fact, it's been reported Dukakis' bleeding heart syndrome led to at least 80 individual violent crime sprees against citizens by criminals who should never have seen the grass again. There was another famous case about a scumbag that car-jacked a couple and forced the boyfriend at gun-point to drive around while he repeatedly raped the girlfriend in the back-seat, but I think that might have been liberal jackasses in Philadelphia that deemed that POS 'rehabilitated'.
As much as I would like to
Submitted by Liberallies on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:47pm.
As much as I would like to say that releasing serial rapists and murderers is a Democratic governnor thing, Right wing governors have also made this mistake.
Mike Huckabee comes to mind two cases. Maurice Clemmons cop murder who Huckbee sd governor pardoned. There is also the case of serial rapist Wayne Dumond.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/01/AR200912...
Dukakis would have been utter disaster for this nation and thank goodness he was soundly defeated, but he is not the only governor nor are Democrat governors the only ones who have royally screwed up in their pardons.
Shhhhhh.
Submitted by ant on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 2:18pm.
I'm trying to get a rise out of Jer. ;-)
Lamar had a long history.
Submitted by Zippy on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:05pm.
Lamar had a long history. Toledo Blade indicated he just got out of prison. And was a waiting trial for felonious assault. Just axe his 25 siblings. Kanyatata made page 1B.
The Toledo Blade
Submitted by Brad90956 on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:13pm.
is nothing more than a FAR LEFT rag. I cancelled my subscription to their trash long ago. If you want to see something funny, check out their endorsement page before an election...of course, all Democrats. I emailed them and said they could save a lot of print space and just write, "The Toledo Blade endorses all Democrats"...of course it wasn't printed in their opinion page. Not a big surprise since they use the AP and NY Times for most of their articles...including a weekly article by Paul Krugman.
No sympathy here for the shooting victim...
Submitted by Jer on Wed, 11/23/2011 - 11:47pm.
But there's nothing wrong with the headline and sub-headline.
Jer
And maybe there is nothing wrong with the advertising
Submitted by TheHistorian on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 8:28am.
And maybe there is nothing wrong with the advertising on page 22 either, Jer. What drove THAT observation? The point is that the story TEXT used a word improperly to potentially try to evoke sympathy for a robber who was about his duties and had the misfortune to rob the wrong person.
Dennis Prager
Regarding the statement, "So
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:04am.
Regarding the statement,
"So is characterizing criminals as "victims" killed or otherwise harmed something seen only occasionally in the far-left Blade, or an growing trend in irresponsible journalism? I certainly hope it's the former.
Tom, I'm afraid I have to say it's the latter. I've been going on for years how the media uses loaded and weasel words to spin the story, but can still claim they are unbiased [technically]. I have this problem all the time when arguing media bias with a liberal. They invariably say, "Well it's true isn't it?" Grrr.
For example, which sounds anti-Republican? "The Democrat-sponsored tax bill to fund increases in teacher's salaries was defeated in the Senate today." or "Hardline Senate Republicans derailed a revenue bill that Democrats hoped could improve educational opportunities." It can't be called a lie, but it certainly colors the truth.
Uhhh Robin Hoods? There's
Submitted by FishFace222 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 12:49am.
Uhhh Robin Hoods?
There's your argument libtards.
I just hope more people,
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:08am.
I just hope more people, especially shop-owners and women, obtain a handgun and learn to use it. I even recommend private lessons on how to become an excellent marksman. The police are not going to be there the minute the crime goes down. You need to protect yourself and realize that most of these thugs might have a Glock but rarely know how to use it properly. With a little training in shooting, you will have a very good chance of living as well as saving your family from a violent encounter.
Remember, many times these street thugs take the money that you give them and shoot and kill you anyway. Get a gun.
Yeah............the guy was a
Submitted by killa37 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:18am.
Yeah............the guy was a 'victim'..................a victim of justice.!!!
You know
Submitted by panzerakc on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:19am.
I am not a cold-hearted person. But if I ever had to kill someone that I was pretty sure was going to kill or seriously hurt me, I can't imagine that I'd feel a single qualm.
No more than I would feel over killing a poisonous snake that was trying to bite me.
I would hope you would feel qualms
Submitted by TheHistorian on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 8:24am.
Even soldiers and police who take a life "in the line of duty" feel qualms if they have humanity. However, first comes your own and your property protection over a person who is potentially threatening both. Note that nothing was said in The Blade's piece (doesn't that name evoke violence, BTW) about whether the robber was armed, but he probably was. Just remember, when seconds are important, the police are minutes away.
Dennis Prager
Of course he was the victim,
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 6:14am.
Of course he was the victim, he was black. This goes on everydaywith blacks and illegal aliens but the media refuses to report it. One less obama voter. Do some research and really discover just how bad minority crime is in the US. It is mostly directed at whites and the media turns a blind eye out of fear.
As my liberal girlfriend
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:37pm.
As my liberal girlfriend likes to note, I doubt if he was the type to vote...[legitimately, that is]
Of course, he'll be voting for Obama next November anyway. Death shouldn't deprive an individual of his rights. I believe that's the Democrats' motto.
Kenny, Come here to Chicago
Submitted by Liberallies on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:49pm.
Kenny,
Come here to Chicago where the dead Democrats are so patriotic that on election day they all leave their graves for the voting booth! :-) It is so pathetic and out of hands that it has become a sad joke.
Lib, And I only thought the
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 2:19pm.
Lib,
And I only thought the dead rose from the grave on Halloween. ;-)
Good Job Maggie.
Submitted by Crash on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 8:01am.
Keep up the good fight between right and wrong (left).
Of course, he was a "victim"
Submitted by TheHistorian on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 8:17am.
There are a number of elements in his "victimhood".
Victimhood, bad luck, that is all that this poor schlub had all of his life as a Toledo resident. I am so grateful that I did not remain a resident of this backward haven once I had graduated from college.
Dennis Prager
Hero Alert!
Submitted by fatboy on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 9:31am.
The clerk's performance will certainly earn him...what the thugreport. com calls...a Hero Alert!
Liberal Victimization
Submitted by LionKing on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 1:20pm.
This is the same liberal mindset that considers enforcement of immigration laws as means of victimizing illegal aliens.
The young man in question is
Submitted by ThePickle on Thu, 11/24/2011 - 3:30pm.
The young man in question is what we in the incarceration biz call "successfully rehabilitated" because we can now guarantee, to the point of certitude, that he will NEVER commit another crime.