Man uses electric saw in store to cut loose shotgun, loads it & fires

[RamboLiberal]

Police continued Thursday to investigate what prompted a 22-year-old Watsonville man to load and fire a gun inside a Big 5 sporting goods store before he was shot dead by police.

Officers also praised the store's assistant manager, who they said stayed remarkably calm as she described the shooter's movements to a 911 dispatcher. In her 11:10 a.m. call to police, Letitia Mello, 31, described how Robin Miranda came in the store with an electric saw and cut away a lock from a shotgun on a wall rack. In the call, the audio of which police released Thursday, Mello told the dispatcher that she was in her locked office and watching Miranda through a window.

"He loaded the gun. He sawed it in half and loaded the gun. And he's walking back toward me. (Shot) Oh my God, he just fired. He just fired," Mello told the dispatcher.

-----

Miranda had entered the store minutes earlier trying to buy a rifle and showed his identification to Mello. He left and came back minutes later with an electric saw and started cutting the locks on the gun rack to remove a rifle, police said. But he gave up on the rifle and cut out a shotgun from the same rack on the wall before loading it with ammunition, police said. Within two minutes of the start of the 911 call, Watsonville master officer Zane Ota and detective Donny Thul arrived on the scene.

http://www.mercurynews.com/central-coast/ci_18243923?source=rss

[aquart]

1. People underestimate the danger of basic tools.

I don't understand why they bother with guns while there are cordless drills.

[-..__...]

9. Did you know that there's an advocacy group...

to combat that very concern?

Unbeknownst to most Americans, a Danger lurks in our homes. As common as a clothespin but as deadly as a snake, many look directly at it without realizing the menace in their midst.

Yes, friends, we are talking about Full Auto Assault Tools. Studies have shown that the MAJORITY of American homes have at least ONE of these devices in them already, with more being added all the time, thanks to efforts by the Tool Lobby to promote their ownership. Power tools- in the hands of unskilled and unlicensed users- kill a tremendous number of people each year- maiming most, electrocuting the remainder. Many of the victims are children.

There are so many hazardous and dangerous tools out there that we had to split the web site up into several pages just to hold them all, and more come in every day. Hopefully, with your support, we can rid our country of the menace of unlicensed tools.

http://allmax.com/MILT/drill.html

[DWC]

18. I honestly thought you were joking. n/t

[petronius]

2. There's a thread in GD about how under-staffed most stores seem to be; this

one makes me think of that. Not to downplay the danger of an electric saw, but it seems like a decent number of employees in a store crammed full of baseball bats, hockey stick, golf clubs, and assorted other blunt objects could have intervened before this guy finished his task. :shrug:

It's sad the man is dead, but I'm glad no one else was injured...

[bluedigger]

3. I don't think it would be that simple.

They had three employees to react to a threat from the moment he returned to the store. (I would like to know about the "attempted" purchase earlier, too, to set the general attitude.) So the AM calls 911, correctly, as it turns out. That leaves the other two, to stop a guy, possibly on drugs/certainly deranged, who goes to the gun department and at some point produces an electric saw. Even two large men would hesitate and look for a weapon, I would think. Who knows who was on scene to deal with the situation? A cashier and a stock boy? It's good that nobody else got hurt.:shrug:

[krispos42]

5. If they intervened, they might have lost their jobs.

That's the sad reality. If they had snatched up clubs and beaten the guy into submission *bam* fired. Putting the company at considerable financial and public-relations risk because of a perceived threat. Endangering other employees. Legal expenses galore. Future financial losses by tacitly encouraging other employees to be aggressive.


No no no, much safer overall to do nothing and let the authorities handle it. 9 times out of ten, it will come out all right. Right?

[bluedigger]

17. Well, you do what you need to when the situation arises.

Second guessing after the fact is probably less accurate than 9 out of 10 without all the facts. Such as who "they" are.

[petronius]

15. I'm sure you're right, I just like to play Frist on the internet sometimes...

:)

[sharesunited]

4. There's retail display of guns and ammo for you.

[TheWraith]

6. Your ghoulishness never fails to disappoint. nt

[sharesunited]

7. I would prefer that the whole thing never happened and that he didn't die.

But guns cloud judgment. He was like a moth to a flame.

[TheWraith]

10. Yes shares, guns are like Cthulu. Just seeing one drives you mad.

:eyes:

You're like a self-parody, you know that? This guy had obvious mental health issues, and yet you choose to believe that a magical mind control field made him do it?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

16. You are one of the few people that I know for whom guns cloud judgement

[-..__...]

8. I like my guns under glass.

They could have been locked up in a bank vault, and the perp rolled in with an Abrams tank, it still wouldn't be enough security for you.

[Straw Man]

12. Why stop at retail?

There's retail display of guns and ammo for you.

Cops should be required to use full-flap holsters lest the sight of their firearms incite the general public to murderous frenzies.

[ileus]

11. There wasn't a baseball bat nearby?

[oneshooter]

13. They were in another department, and nobody was there. n/t

[rl6214]

14. Looks like we've got a new spammeister.