It appears that a man in a black mask with a black revolver was holding up the Cozy Corner restaurant in Santa Ana, California and an individual in the drive-up lane fires three shots through the closed drive-up window at the robber, hitting the suspect twice.  One shot hit the drink machine.

The suspect was hit twice in the upper-torso and collapsed outside where he was transported in stable condition to a local hospital and arrested on suspicion of robbery.

Unfortunately, in California, the perp is also considered to be a victim. And, the citizen protecting the lives of those innocents involved will probably be arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. For those who believed that the bystander acted recklessly, it appears he had a clear shot and the counter clerk was well to the side.

We know that the hungry bystander probably wasn’t a law enforcement officer or he would have stopped and identified himself. We know he probably wasn’t a gang member as they generally have no incentive to break up a robbery and are notoriously poor shots. And, it is more likely that this hero may be from out of state where people actually stand up to criminals and protect their fellow citizens.

While the driver left the scene, it appears that the photos of the vehicle in the drive-up lane had a pixelated license plate – which mean that the police already knows who they might be.

Bottom line …

Had this been Texas instead of The People’s Republic of California, the shooter would have been honored by his community as a heroic Texas citizen.

-- steve