In the affidavit of probable cause filed with the Ouachita County Sheriff’s Department, police said Rafus Anderson was on duty at the discount store’s South 8th Street location in downtown Monroe on Monday when a gunman robbed the store. Officials report that Anderson fired a shot that struck the suspect as he fled the scene. Another shot hit a customer.
Authorities say they found the suspect north of the location “lying in the money he had just robbed the store of.” The suspect was taken by ambulance to a hospital but later died from his wound.
The customer was taken to a local hospital where they were treated and later released.
Anderson locked and set the alarm at the Dollar General, and police report he then turned himself in. He told officers that it was the sixth armed robbery attempt there since just August, and four of them were successful. He rightfully feared that the suspect was going to murder him.
The employee said that he only shot at the suspect and did not realize he had hit him because the man continued running. Anderson reportedly is being held without bond.
The New Yorker and ProPublica conducted a joint investigation in 2020 that revealed that dollar stores are now frequently targeted by armed robbers. This is due in part to their operating in less wealthy neighborhoods as well as their receiving actual cash for many purchases.
Besides functioning as a facility for poorer people to readily buy essential goods, many times they are the only stores for quite a distance. The study quoted B.J. Bethel, a local NBC reporter in Dayton, Ohio, as noting that often for criminals “it’s the only place to get cash.”
Chains such as Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are the fastest growing retail sector in the U.S., and they are prime targets for violent criminals.
The right to defend oneself and property is well-grounded both in the Constitution and the nation’s legal system. If society is to continue to function, bad guys with guns must know good guys with guns will resist, and furthermore will not face frivolous charges for their defensive actions.
The mainstream media tell us that the police and other law enforcement agencies are just a phone call away. We should retreat and surrender, and defending ourselves is just another form of vigilantism that must be suppressed.
That is hogwash.
No one respects the police more than law-abiding citizens, but the police are incapable of being everywhere at once. More often than not, law enforcement and first responders arrive on the scene just in time to take down names, collect evidence, and possibly carry away the victims.
That is not what self defense is based upon.
What criminals fear is an armed citizenry. Most are at least marginally intelligent enough to not commit a robbery when there are police nearby. What they cannot know, however, is if their victim is also armed and ready to resist.
That is the fear of criminals, and that is why the U.S. must continue to push back against those who would disarm good people. Defenseless citizens are all potential victims, and that in no way is what America is about.
