A customer shot and killed a man who attempted to rob a Ranchito Taqueria restaurant in Houston, police said, and the incident was captured on surveillance video.
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Investigators are seeking to question the customer, who has not been identified nor is he being charged.
Police said an armed man in a mask entered the restaurant and immediately began demanding wallets and money from customers. As he made his score and began to leave, he was shot dead by one of the customers.
The shooter then collected the money and wallets and returned them to the other customers. All witnesses left before the police arrived.
Robber Shot and Killed By Customer
The surveillance video shows everyone quickly exiting after the scene.
“The robbery suspect he came into the store and was wearing masks and gloves,” HPD Lt. Wilkens said. “He had a plastic pistol possibly an aero soft or possibly a little BB pistol.”
Twitter obviously went wild after the insane footage was released. “the right approach b/c more ppl need to realize that most of them are in a gang. And there’s a lot of gang initiation crime going on in Houston now. They shoot and kill w/o any consideration. Don’t try to reason with them. The more brutal, the higher they rank in the gang,” one user wrote.
Another one noted, “So if police are not suppose to shoot someone in the back after the threat of immediate harm is over, why does a citizen get to shoot someone in back AFTER the threat was over? If he was leaving he posed no immediate threat.”
Police are asking anyone with information on the shooter — who, again, is not being charged — come forward. They intend to talk to everyone who was on the scene.