If ever there was a wrong liquor store to rob, the one in Marionville, Mo., with Jon Lewis Alexander behind the counter would be it. Mainly because Alexander is a 30-year military man and veteran of four tours in the Iraq war .
Photo credit: Springfield News-Leader
Then there’s the Walther PPX 9-mm handgun he always carries, loaded, with one in the chamber.
But on Sunday, a would-be robber made that mistake and picked that store. The man pulled out his weapon and ended up with Alexander’s gun in his mouth in just a few short seconds, according to the surveillance video on the News-Leader.
“One of the policemen told me later, ‘You’re a lucky man,’ ” Alexander told the Springfield News-Leader on Monday. “I said, ‘I think he [the robber] is a little luckier than I am.’ ”
The News-Leader described the short altercation this way:
The man came in the store smoking a cigarette, and Alexander said he quickly explained that was against the rules. Within seconds, the man in a gray T-shirt was at the counter, demanding “all the (expletive deleted) money.”
In less than three seconds, as Alexander threw out a couple of expletives of his own and threatened to “blow his (expletive deleted) head off,” the man is seen in the video backing away, his own firearm still at his side.
Max Dawson, the store’s owner, said he had been a victim of burglary so many times in the past four years he thought the bad guys deserved to be shot. And he approved of Alexander’s actions.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Dawson said. “I think they all ought to be put away — permanently.”
Alexander, who was injured in Iraq while serving in the Army, has held several high-risk jobs in the time since. He said he remained calm during the attempted robbery and didn’t fire, because the would-be robber’s gun was never pointed at him. No one was hurt and no shots were fired.
“If I had seen the actual barrel of the gun, I would have pulled the trigger,” he told the News-Leader. “My life wasn’t threatened.”
Alexander gave a detailed description of the man, and the surveillance video was turned over to the police. Because he put the barrel of the gun into the man’s mouth, the police swabbed the weapon for DNA samples. An arrest has not yet been made, according to the News-Leader.
Watch the surveillance video here :
H/T: The Blaze
