Nice. October is a wierd month. the beginning is always warm and by the end it gets cold.
HARLEM STORE OWNER: I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO SHOOT THUGSRead Comments Leave a Comment By MATT NESTEL, IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON, JOHN DOYLE and LUKAS I. ALPERT
August 14, 2009
Charles Augusto, Jr., bought a gun 20 years ago after he was first robbed, but never discharged it until yesterday, when four would-be robbers entered his Harlem restaurant-supply company yesterday afternoon, pulled a gun on him and demanded money.
"I was hoping I could have talked them out of it. I'm sorry they're dead but they didn't give me any other choice," Augusto said.
After the Westchester Co. resident made it clear there was no money in the Kaplan Bros. Blue Flame Corp. store-- they hadn't even had any customers in the store that day -- the bandits turned their attention to his 33-year-old assistant, JB, and starting pistol-whipping him and demanding money.
That prompted Augusto to pull the 12-gauge, pump-action shotgun and fire three times, cops said. The blasts struck all four men, two of them in the back.
One of the perps, James Morgan, 29, fell in the doorway and died outside the building, with a gun near his body. Raylin Footman, 21, who had prior arrests for robbery and weapons charges, collapsed across the street, and later died at St. Luke's Hospital.
Two other suspects, Bernard Witherspoon, 21, and Shamel McCloud, 21, were caught a few blocks away.
Augusto said he told the thugs, "No one even came in here today. Take your gun, put it in your pocket and go home."
"I could see it in the guy's eyes that he wanted to go home. I just had a feeling he wanted to forget about it. It's a damn shame."
Augusto, who hasn't been charged in the shootings, retold the harrowing tale this morning.
"I was sitting at the desk there. (Feet up) And there was a ruckus up front. There were men upfront. And a guy standing with a pistol pointed at me screaming 'where's the money?, where's the money?' I told him there was no money. I told him to put away the gun. This doesn't make sense. Put down the gun there's no money. Go home and we'll forget about it'The gunman instead left Augusto to help the other thugs beat up JB, who has worked for Augusto for 19 years. They demanded the money from his pockets as they beat him with the gun.
"You lost your life for $4.35 cents. That's all I had on me. There was no money here," JB, who was shot in the face 16 years ago, said.
Left alone in the back of the store, Augusto went for his gun, which had been hidden for 20 years.
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I didn't have it in my hand. I wasn't even going to go looking for it. I had to wait till they moved. That's when they made a mistake. They got out of my sight and that's when I could grab the gun. Some kids are dead because of it."This morning, JB said, "How you gonna talk down a guy with a gun in my face. I hit him. That's all I had on me. I stuck up for my life. To make sure this wasn't going to happen to me. I have a 13-year-old."
Augusto said, "What's the worst they could do, shoot me? I guess so. I'm not going to lay down and die. I'm just not going to. It wasn't my choice. It was their choice.""I did what I had to do. I didn't want to. I'm sad that there're mothers and fathers who lost a son today."
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Wow. What a story.
