Dallas, Texas

From Dallas’ CBS11tv.com of October 8, 2007

Dallas Dry Cleaner Fatally Shoots Alleged Robber

Police say a would-be thief was fatally shot after trying to rob a Dallas dry cleaner at gunpoint Monday morning.

The owner of 'Joe's Cleaners', Joe Baggett, spent the afternoon talking with police about the death of the 42-year-old alleged robber. Baggett told CBS 11 News the man had been in his business earlier in the morning and that he had smelled liquor on his breath.

Baggett says when the man came back with a gun he offered to give him money but he wouldn't take it.

According to the owner, instead of taking cash the man kept pushing him back while putting a gun to his head.

Detectives say Baggett was being forced into the back room when he and the armed man got into a struggle over the thief's gun.

Seeing the commotion, the store owner's wife retrieved the couple's firearm and eventually handed it to her husband - who fired several shots.

"The guy feared for his life, you know as any one of us would with a gun pointed to his head. His wife went to his aid by grabbing their gun," said Sgt. Gene Reyes, Dallas Police Department.

After being stuck in the head the gunman collapsed and died in the parking lot just a few feet away from a daycare center. Sheranda's Playhouse has about 150 children registered at the location. No children were injured.

Daycare owner Edwin Reed says he hasn't seen any problems in the area before. "It doesn't concern me unless we have another incident around here happen � then I'm gonna start having a little bit more concern," he said. "I just think it's, again, an isolated incident that some guy that just got greedy and curious to try and take a store owner's money."

Kishina Covington's child attends the daycare and after driving by and seeing the crime scene she stopped to check on her child. "It's really disheartening that this type of activity goes on, especially for someone to see that there is a daycare next door and that didn't stop them," she said.

As of Monday afternoon police hadn't been able to contact the alleged robber's family as a result the dead suspect's name has not been released.

Police are still investigating the shooting but say they don't expect to press any charges against the owner of the dry cleaners.