Monday, May 21, 2007

Marion, Arkansas

From May 21, 2007 (although no date appears on the page itself) WREG-TV Memphis:
Marion, AR - A would-be robber is recovering in the med after being shot by the store clerk he was trying to rob. It happened this afternoon at the marion discount pharmacy in marion arkansas. Tonight.. Locals are calling the shooter a hero.

It's well-known around town that marion discount pharmacy had been robbed three times before. Locals are fed up. And when they heard how an attempted robbery got foiled.. Some.. Called the shooter a hero.

"There was a guy laying in front of the door," says Nicky Glover a bystander who hadn't seen anything like this happen in Marion before.

Marion Discount Pharmacy had just been robbed two weeks ago. But this latest attempt sent the would-be robber to the hospital. The shooter? A female pharmacist who was tired of being scared.

"I think she probably solved a lot of problems here in Marion," says a friend who came to give support when they heard pharmacist Susan Burns shot a robber in her store. "We're all tired up and down this mall of robbers, thieves. She's my hometown hero."

Police say around 3pm, the suspect, 26-year-old Jeremy Johnson, walked in with a gun. Police say Johnson then told a pharmacist behind the counter to get down on the ground, and ordered another to get him drugs.

Det. Sgt. G.B. Martin with the Marion Police Department says "There were other customers in the pharmacy. He advised one of the witnesses in there to sit down turn around get out of the way."

Included among the customers was a girl about ten years old. Police do not think she witnessed any of the violence. Somehow, Burns pulled a gun from behind the counter and fired. Police say the last time a robber came in, that robber had stuck a gun to her head. This robber didn't get far.

Witness Glover says "Yeah she was very shaken up, there was policemen surrounding her and comforting her yeah she was very shook up."

Police say Johnson already had a warrant out for his arrest stemming from another robbery in Tennessee. They do not believe he is connected to the earlier robberies at the Marion Discount Pharmacy.

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