Raleigh, North Carolina



From the Raleigh News-Observer of November 14, 2004

Store owner returns fire, foils robbery



Robbers are finding out that one North Raleigh jewelry store just isn't worth targeting, unless they're willing to risk being shot at for their trouble.



Police are crediting Larry Dickerson, owner of Walls Jewelers, with foiling on Saturday yet another attempt to rob his store.



Raleigh Police Lt. Hil Miller said two men walked into Walls Jewelers at 2923-A Brentwood Road at 1:23 p.m. Dickerson said he saw them acting suspiciously, with their hands in their pockets, so he slipped a pistol into his own pocket.



One of the men pulled out a gun.



"When he wheeled around, I hit the floor," Dickerson said. "He fired three shots at me."



Dickerson, a retired Raleigh police officer who never fired a shot in more than 20 years of duty, said he returned fire. He said he wouldn't have fired if there had been customers in the store.



No one was injured in the exchange. But the two suspects ran outside, heading north on Brentwood Road, and have not been apprehended. Neighbors heard a car drive away.



"You have to have a gun," Dickerson said. "If I didn't have it, I'd be dead."



Police have only a vague description of the two men.



A similar incident happened at the store in 1991 when Dickerson stepped out of the bathroom to find a teenager holding a shotgun on his former partner and two customers. Dickerson lunged under the counter and pulled out a shotgun, causing the teen to flee.