Man with concealed weapon shoots alleged robber
Man with concealed weapon shoots alleged robber
By Bill Bryan
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/14/2007
Riccardo Crossland used a pellet gun to rob a man legally carrying a real
gun outside a Bridgeton
motel Tuesday morning and ended up shot, police said.
Crossland went off to a hospital with wounds of the hand and leg; the
victim went on his way with
the congratulations of police.
“Here was a robbery where we have a good ending for once,” said Bridgeton
Police Major Don Steinman,
who said the shooting was clearly self-defense.
The 23-year-old victim holds a concealed-carry permit from his home state
of Florida, which is
honored in Missouri, officials said.
“He had his gun aimed at my face,” the robbery victim said in an interview
granted on the condition
that his name and hometown not be used. “I definitely thought he was going
to shoot me, so I started
firing.”
Crossland’s weapon turned out to be a pellet gun that resembled a
.45-caliber handgun, police said.
The victim had a real .45 in his waistband.
Crossland, 39, of the 7100 block of Beulah Avenue in Jennings, was taken
to DePaul Health Center,
police said, for treatment of his wounds, which were not considered
life-threatening. He was charged
with first-degree robbery and armed criminal action.
Police said Crossland is on probation for a drug-related offense, and has
convictions for robbery,
burglary, stealing and drug-related crimes.
The victim gave this account:
He had stayed several days at the Motel 6, near Interstate 270 and St.
Charles Rock Road, while
looking at a race car engine to buy from a man in St. Louis.
About 3 a.m. Tuesday, he took his pit bull on an errand for food. Just
outside the motel, he
encountered two men who asked questions about the dog before one of them
pulled out what looked like
a gun and announced a holdup.
“The one guy started to pat me down, and I didn’t want him to find my gun,
so I was handing them
over everything I could,” the victim said. “I was just waiting for the
right opportunity to get my
gun.”
The robbers then started to depart with the man’s wallet, necklace, ring
and cash.
“The guy with the gun was walking away with the gun at his side, but then
he turned around and aimed
it at my face,” the victim said. “I definitely thought he was going to
shoot me, so I pulled my gun
out and started firing.”
He fired seven shots and the pair fled.
Crossland was found about a quarter of a mile away, hiding on a parking
lot in the 12900 block of
St. Charles Rock Road, police said. The accomplice was not caught.
The victim said he had the concealed-carry permit for two years but had
never used the weapon.
Missouri has no tracking system for cases in which people with
concealed-carry permits use their
weapons.
