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AT&T customer in Gresham goes to jail after shooting at thieves' getaway car
GRESHAM -- Roger Witter saw a couple of thieves run off with phones at a Gresham AT&T store, gave chase and shot a couple of holes in their getaway car with a .38-caliber revolver.
The thieves got away. Witter wasn't so lucky.
Police cuffed Witter and hauled him to jail in downtown Portland. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm inside city limits.
Witter, 48, said his travails began Tuesday when his phone conked out. That night, the self-employed illustrator and muralist headed to the AT&T shop at 533 N.W. Division St. with his cousin, Duane Giancone, 52.
Witter was at the counter about 20 minutes when two young guys walked in behind him. Suddenly, sirens blared and the guys dashed out of the store with four iPhones they had yanked from a display.
Witter and Giancone raced after them.
"Stop!" they yelled. "Stop!"
The two thieves piled into a slate-gray car, which police later described as a Chrysler.
Witter didn't want them to get away. He had watched the decay of his nearby Rockwood neighborhood and considered the MAX train that passes through "a highway to crime." Outside his own house last year, Witter said, he had to rescue a man beaten in the head with a hammer.
To protect himself, he obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Outside the AT&T store Tuesday Witter pulled that weapon, a five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver loaded with hollow-point slugs. He dropped to one knee in front of the getaway car, aimed at its right tire and shouted a single command.
"Stop!"
The car lurched forward, swerving to avoid Witter, who opened fire in hopes he could disable the tire and thwart the thieves. But Witter missed the tire. Twice.
Giancone, who also holds a conceal-carry permit, wasn't carrying his gun.
Witter holstered his revolver and walked back into the store. A manager and a security guard appeared. Witter inquired again about his broken iPhone.
Gresham police officers pulled up and asked who fired the shots. When Witter identified himself, they took his gun, keys, pocketknife and conceal-carry permit. They handcuffed him and took him to jail.
Sgt. Rick Wilson later said that in a case like this, no matter how frustrated someone gets with crime, it's not permissible to use deadly force.
"Those two rounds could've gone anywhere," Wilson said in a news release. "In fact, we're still not sure where they went. They could've struck an innocent bystander or damaged property."
Witter took exception to any such notion. The slugs he fired in the ordinarily busy shopping district hit the front bumper of the getaway car, he said, and police will find them when they locate the vehicle. Witter said he saw no bystanders at the time.
"I wasn't shooting willy-nilly," he said. "I feel like they took the wrong guy to jail."
Witter described himself as a lifelong deer and elk hunter, a guy who took gun safety courses and followed the law.
"I'm not a cowboy, I'm not a hero," he said. "I just wanted to do what was right."
Gun lobbyist Kevin Starrett, whose Oregon Firearms Federation supports the rights of gun owners and those who hold conceal-carry permits, said he thought Witter showed poor judgment.
"I can understand his desire to be helpful," Starrett said. "But it was not the thing to do. You can't shoot someone's tires out; it's just not TV."
The incident was a blur, Witter said.
"I was just trying to stop a crime," he said. "Was it a mistake? Probably. Would I do it again? Probably."
Jailers cut Witter loose in the wee hours Wednesday, too late to catch a MAX train back to Gresham. Without a ride or a phone to call for one, he walked more than 10 miles home in the rain.
AT&T officials declined to comment on the theft of iPhones or Witter's attempts to stop the crime. And it seemed to Witter that, in the end, the thieves -- suspected of a related theft of two iPhones at Mall 205 -- came out way ahead.
"They got new iPhones," he said, "and mine still doesn't work."
http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/05/when_iphone_thieves_run_out_of.html
Wow, important lesson learned here. If you're going to play cowboy make sure you punch yourself in the face a few times before the cops show up.
I wonder if there is an app for that?
GRESHAM -- Roger Witter saw a couple of thieves run off with phones at a Gresham AT&T store, gave chase and shot a couple of holes in their getaway car with a .38-caliber revolver.
The thieves got away. Witter wasn't so lucky.
Police cuffed Witter and hauled him to jail in downtown Portland. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to disorderly conduct and discharging a firearm inside city limits.
Witter, 48, said his travails began Tuesday when his phone conked out. That night, the self-employed illustrator and muralist headed to the AT&T shop at 533 N.W. Division St. with his cousin, Duane Giancone, 52.
Witter was at the counter about 20 minutes when two young guys walked in behind him. Suddenly, sirens blared and the guys dashed out of the store with four iPhones they had yanked from a display.
Witter and Giancone raced after them.
"Stop!" they yelled. "Stop!"
The two thieves piled into a slate-gray car, which police later described as a Chrysler.
Witter didn't want them to get away. He had watched the decay of his nearby Rockwood neighborhood and considered the MAX train that passes through "a highway to crime." Outside his own house last year, Witter said, he had to rescue a man beaten in the head with a hammer.
To protect himself, he obtained a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
Outside the AT&T store Tuesday Witter pulled that weapon, a five-shot Smith & Wesson revolver loaded with hollow-point slugs. He dropped to one knee in front of the getaway car, aimed at its right tire and shouted a single command.
"Stop!"
The car lurched forward, swerving to avoid Witter, who opened fire in hopes he could disable the tire and thwart the thieves. But Witter missed the tire. Twice.
Giancone, who also holds a conceal-carry permit, wasn't carrying his gun.
Witter holstered his revolver and walked back into the store. A manager and a security guard appeared. Witter inquired again about his broken iPhone.
Gresham police officers pulled up and asked who fired the shots. When Witter identified himself, they took his gun, keys, pocketknife and conceal-carry permit. They handcuffed him and took him to jail.
Sgt. Rick Wilson later said that in a case like this, no matter how frustrated someone gets with crime, it's not permissible to use deadly force.
"Those two rounds could've gone anywhere," Wilson said in a news release. "In fact, we're still not sure where they went. They could've struck an innocent bystander or damaged property."
Witter took exception to any such notion. The slugs he fired in the ordinarily busy shopping district hit the front bumper of the getaway car, he said, and police will find them when they locate the vehicle. Witter said he saw no bystanders at the time.
"I wasn't shooting willy-nilly," he said. "I feel like they took the wrong guy to jail."
Witter described himself as a lifelong deer and elk hunter, a guy who took gun safety courses and followed the law.
"I'm not a cowboy, I'm not a hero," he said. "I just wanted to do what was right."
Gun lobbyist Kevin Starrett, whose Oregon Firearms Federation supports the rights of gun owners and those who hold conceal-carry permits, said he thought Witter showed poor judgment.
"I can understand his desire to be helpful," Starrett said. "But it was not the thing to do. You can't shoot someone's tires out; it's just not TV."
The incident was a blur, Witter said.
"I was just trying to stop a crime," he said. "Was it a mistake? Probably. Would I do it again? Probably."
Jailers cut Witter loose in the wee hours Wednesday, too late to catch a MAX train back to Gresham. Without a ride or a phone to call for one, he walked more than 10 miles home in the rain.
AT&T officials declined to comment on the theft of iPhones or Witter's attempts to stop the crime. And it seemed to Witter that, in the end, the thieves -- suspected of a related theft of two iPhones at Mall 205 -- came out way ahead.
"They got new iPhones," he said, "and mine still doesn't work."
http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2010/05/when_iphone_thieves_run_out_of.html
Wow, important lesson learned here. If you're going to play cowboy make sure you punch yourself in the face a few times before the cops show up.
I wonder if there is an app for that?
