Kansas City, Missouri

From the KansasCityChannel of August 9, 2005

Owner Of Salvage Yard Says He Shot Thief

After being the victim of several robberies, a local salvage yard owner decided to take the law into his own hands, KMBC's Chris Nagus reported Monday.

Early Monday morning, a prowler was shot at A/3 Auto Tire and Wheel at 14th Street and Jackson Avenue -- and it wasn't police doing the firing.

Paul, who asked that his last name not be used, said he couldn't sleep, so he came into work before dawn.

"I couldn't sleep because they keep stealing from me down there," Paul said. "If you're going to catch a thief, you have to act like one."

Instead of using the front gate, Paul climbed through a hole in his chain link fence.

"I went in like an old rat, just the same way those scumbags do," Paul said.

He soon found himself face to face with a man who was stealing from Paul's truck.

"My .357 was with me -- that kept me safe," Paul said.

He told KMBC he fired two warning shots into the air.

"(The man) raised his hand up like he was going to hit me with one of the wrenches he stole out of my truck," Paul said.

The owner said that's when he fired two shots at the prowler -- once in the buttocks, the other in the arm.

Neighbors said the measure wasn't extreme.

"He's trying to make a living over there, and they're stealing him blind," said Gary Rogers, who also battles robbers at his auto store.

"I don't have any regrets -- they stole from me too many times," Paul said.

The wounded man is expected to recover, police said.