Rockford (Guns Save Life) – A 17-year-old aspiring armed robber and soon-to-be father Brandon Pierce of Rockford, IL was struck down in his prime while robbing a jewelry store in Rockford, according to police.
Police did not deny that Mr. Pierce tried announced the robbery while holding a handgun, and the owner of the store retrieved his own handgun and fired a number of shots at the robber and that the gun later turned out to be a pellet pistol.
Just a classic case of don’t bring a pellet gun to an armed robbery.
Or better yet, don’t be an armed robber.
The family asks friends to donate money to the family in lieu of flowers. How sweet.
Police mum on shooting at North Towne Mall in Rockford
Rockford, IL (Register-Star) — A hole in the ceiling and an undisclosed amount of missing jewelry are what police found when they responded to a 4:15 a.m. burglary alarm Oct. 15 at Jewelry Concepts.
Was it related to Friday’s armed robbery attempt and fatal shooting at the same business in North Towne Mall? Lt. Marc Welsh doesn’t think so.
“I have no reason to believe they were connected,” he said Monday.
Outside of a Winnebago County coroner’s report that Brandon M. Pierce died of multiple gunshot wounds, officials revealed few details about the shooting.
Pierce, 17, reportedly entered the store, 940 W. Riverside Blvd., shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, displayed a handgun and told the employees he was there to rob the business. An employee retrieved a handgun and shot Pierce. Paramedics pronounced the teen dead at the scene.
Welsh would not confirm or deny reports that the employee was the business owner or that Pierce had a pellet gun.
…Most, but not all, mall customers were ready to call the shooting an isolated incident.
…Tom Jones, owner of Superior Spy & Surveillance, 1070 W. Riverside Blvd. in the mall, compared the shooting to a foiled robbery Oct. 1, 2011, at Marie’s Pizza, 1513 Charles St.
Off-duty Winnebago County Deputy Frank Pobjecky halted the robbery when he used the business owner’s gun to shoot the four suspects. Among them was Michael D. Sago, 16, who was killed.
“I’m sick of the crime, and I’m sick of people taking advantage of other people,” Jones said. “This shows that if you come into any place of business, you are not always going to win.”
He was just turning his life around too…
Harsh as this seems, good. Too many idiots are prevented from learning the heard way that doing stupid stuff hurts.
The truth is that he was young and had no intentions of hurting anybody..yes stealing is wrong, but he had a tough childhood and a big heart. He just needed more stability in his childhood…so maybe having children when you are a drug addict or if you are not equipped to raise them leaves scars that sometimes dont show until they are teenagers or adults. He was sweet and kind and sensitive and thoughtful and so full of love for the people he knew, but he was also very scarred and way too young to be gone in an instant. Its a very very sad and heartbreaking situation. Again he had no intention of hurting anybody or he would have used a real gun..so try not to judge too harshly his young life was marred with pain and instabilty. Sooooo sad for all..including the store employee.
I don’t care how big you say he heart was. The fact is he committed armed robbery. He got what he deserved and I challenge the next store owner or employee to do the same in those circumstances. Time to stop entitling and excusing criminal behavior.
We all have choices. He made the wrong one and he suffered the consequences of his actions.
Agreed.
Armed with a pellet gun…I know it was a mistake I knew the kid and he was let down by every part of his family and its a sad sad thing…drug addict mom and dad fresh out of nail..just wanted to b loved and made a really stupid and fatal mistake. I’m sorry I didn’t do more to help him.
No intentions of hurting anyone?
Well, my crystal ball is broken and so is the store owner’s.
All I know is that he’s threatening to hurt innocents if they don’t give him what he wants and as a good guy, I have to take him at his word as I don’t know him.
I don’t know if his cat bit him on the pinkie as a 3-year-old or if his momma spanked him with a wooden spoon or if his goldfish died leaving him despondent for a week or three. I don’t know if his daddy left him, molested him or kicked him to the curb.
I do know that he had what a reasonable and prudent person would discern to be a weapon and he threatened people with it.
And he got DRT.
I suppose his life ended as it was marred: with pain and instability.
Hopefully his parents raised any of the rest of their offspring not to be armed robbing a-holes.
I wanna see a picture of the pellet gun he used !! How can you not tell from 5 ft away it was a pellet gun ? Why was he shot again after he hit the ground? Why were multiple shots taking after the kid was down ?? Is it true the owner shot him in the head after he fell to the ground ? Oh and how the fuck couldn’t he tell it was a pellet gun when he owned a REAL gun ??
Go to Pyramydair.com and look at the pellet pistols they sell. Many of them are cosmetic duplicates of real firearms, and if someone is pointing one at you you aren’t going to check the size of the bore to see if its real or not.
I can see your point but why we’re 4 shots taking ? 2 shots I can understand but I highly doubt he was standing or holding the pellet gun after the first shot! The kid don’t look to be no more then 155 pounds soaking wet!
Isn’t that the point?
Guns are what lets an 80 year old man stop a 25 year old thug from beting him to death.. Guns make all people equal, or at least potentially equal.
The store owner has to assume that anyone willing to point a gun at him is willing to kill him, and therefore MUST respond in kind. Keep squeezing the trigger until the person you point the gun towards is no longer a threat.
Shooting the gun from the bad guys hands is movie nonsense. You fire until the threat is neutralized. Otherwise, in todays crazy world, you will probably be sued by the person who tried to rob you
I’ve seen pellet guns look like a Beretta92 you stupid liberal
He was shot an additional 3 times after his defenseless body was laying on the ground ? How is a defensless 17 year old boy laying on the ground a threat ?
How do you know his defenseless body was laying on the ground as he was shot 3 more times. Above it only says multiple gunshot wounds. It is my understanding that many people in a defensive shooting have so much adrenaline they shoot til the gun is empty.
Who says he was lying on the ground after the first shot?
Who says the gun was out of his hand after the first shot?
In a defensive situation, you don’t fire one shot & then wait to see if that worked; you keep firing until the threat is neutralized.
I can get off two to the body & one to the head faster than a man can fall, so I guess MY idea of effectively stopping the threat is terrible too.
Guess what?
I don’t care.
^Thug trash defending thug trash. ^
Your calling me ” Thug Trash ” when you don’t even have the respect to talk to those you don’t know in a decent manner ! I guess you can call a man that works 60 hours a week ” Thug Trash ” but before you use that judgement you might wanna take a quick look in the mirror and see the reflection that comes back to you cause your not to high and mighty your self hypocrite !
Detached reflection is not required in the presence of an upraised knife, Shh…
Got a cite on that claim that the robber was shot three times while down?
I understand some people not being able to tell the difference between a real gun and a pellet gun but why 4 shots when he didn’t shoot a single pellet ?
Still waiting for that citation, Mr. Shh.
Because you shoot until the threat is neutralized.
What is someone threatened by an armed assailant supposed to do; shoot once, then wait to see if that worked?
Gimme a break…..
Only a total dumbass would wait for the criminal to fire if they had the means to prevent it.
Good Shooting Store Owner!
Oh come on now, when are the Libtards going to get it through their head that when an armed robber enters a store with a handgun they need to be shot dead! There has been so much crime in Rockford, people are SICK OF IT! Yes, the pellet guns DO look like real guns, and when some criminal is pointing one at you, you should shoot him dead! At that point, it is either him or you. And I don’t blame the employee one bit to make sure he was dead, we have all had enough of the criminal drug-using trash running around. Criminals do know what could happen if they commit armed robbery and obviously know it is wrong. Even a pellet gun could take out your eye, nope, not gonna give any POS low-life a chance to rob or injure me – – brandish a gun, you’re dead. End of story.
Keep working at it shhhh and eventually you may get to resemble an intelligent blogger with something meaningful about which to write….
Actually a pellet gun can kill a person if it hits the right spot.
Here’s the background & more info. He was shot twice in the chest, once in the side, and once in the arm. The Rockford Register Star has a follow-up story. Google the paper, kid’s name & “lived nearby”
He had just moved in with his father, who is on parole from a 9-year sentence for… wait for it… armed robbery.
The nut didn’t fall far from the tree then.
Unfortunately, it seems you’re right. Though we may not be held liable for the sins of our fathers, it seems like kids emulate their ancestors in one way or another.
And all the “should’a, would’a, could’a” doesn’t change the fact that a 17-y.o. brought a pellet gun to a real gun fight. Even if he didn’t intend on hurting anyone, with all the crime in Rockford, how could the store employee have known the difference? It’s a shame all around, but the kid was old enough to know what he was doing, and I hope the father is proud of the example he set for his son.
Just sad.
Listen,
I knew him as well, he was very dear to me at one point in my life. I will admit what he did was a stupid mistake and idiotic that he thought that in some way shape or form it was okay to do that. However, for the years I’ve known him he would never shoot someone, he would be too scared. He deserved to go to jail, he deserved to be scared shitless, he deserved an ass kicking, but he did NOT deserve to die.
Sorry, but he got EXACTLY what he deserved.
He would be alive today if he had simply OBEYED THE LAW.
Now his troubles are all over.
Obeying the law isn’t necessarily the right thing to do in the world.
“He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” A week ago would you have said he’d commit armed robbery?
“Why was he shot more than that one perfect magic wand time required to cause him to quietly surrender and lead a happy productive life?” It’s people like you we are told will be on our juries. Fortunately there are people who actually know about shootings who are willing to explain it to jury members like you; or more likely, to the rest of the jury – you will never understand, you refuse to.
“He got what he deserved.” I’m tempted to cut a fine distinction that I can’t quite see. That there’s a difference between deserve and reasonably get. I’d think death is only deserved after one has harmed others; not to say that it is not to be reasonably expected (or that the issuers of said are in any way culpable) upon threatening others. Perhaps the thought experiment – what if it were noticed that the gun were “just” a pellet gun, or unloaded, or rubber or otherwise harmless (or harmlessish) and somebody just cussed him out, swatted the gun out of his hands and held him, physically, until he could be incarcerated. Would he have deserved the death penalty or life in prison? Think back to those (mythical?) strong, stern yet fair men of yesteryear. Wouldn’t they just give him a hiding and set him back to his chores?
i dnt think tht he shoulda been shot as many times as he was he hada pelet gun wtf is he gun do to u he couldnt cause harm to anyoneandif he wanted to he woulda brought a real gun knowing hisfamily and his histroy i betr there was a reason forwhat hewas doing so all u people tht are saying he got what he deserved u can fuck off what if someone shot u 4times when u hada pelet gun wouldnt feel to nice ik it wouldnt so inless he comes back from the dead we will never no but i do kno tht he didnt deserve to die tht was bullshit this shot to kill policyis fucked up to many ppl are dying for stupid ass reasons