By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A 53-year-old woman waiting in a parked vehicle outside a Walmart in Auburn, Wash., Tuesday morning sent two would-be robbers beating a hasty retreat after meeting their demands for her property with gunshots.
A spokesman for the Auburn Police Department could not confirm whether the woman was licensed to carry a concealed pistol. She suffered non-life threatening injuries and the two suspects were arrested and taken into custody, according to KING News, the local NBC affiliate.
Rival KOMO News, the local ABC affiliate, reported police using K-9s and a drone located the suspects following a search of the area.
The incident received coverage from all four network affiliates including KIRO (CBS) and KCPQ (Fox).
According to the police and published reports, the shootout occurred at about 3 a.m. The woman was seated in a pickup truck when two armed suspects, ages approximately 21 and 19, approached and demanded her valuables. She drew her gun and fired at both men, at least one of whom returned fire.
Reaction from KING viewers was swift on the station’s Facebook page with mostly supportive comments. Crime is a big issue in the area, which is south of Seattle, in King County.
The state Department of Licensing reported at the end of April that Washington has more than 695,000 active concealed pistol licenses, and the highest number of these are found in King County. There, more than 113,000 CPLs are in circulation.
Washington State statute allows the use of force “Whenever used by a party about to be injured, or by another lawfully aiding him or her, in preventing or attempting to prevent an offense against his or her person, or a malicious trespass, or other malicious interference with real or personal property lawfully in his or her possession, in case the force is not more than is necessary.”
The use of lethal force is allowed under a separate statute, which explains such force may be used, “(1) In the lawful defense of the slayer, or his or her husband, wife, parent, child, brother, or sister, or of any other person in his or her presence or company, when there is reasonable ground to apprehend a design on the part of the person slain to commit a felony or to do some great personal injury to the slayer or to any such person, and there is imminent danger of such design being accomplished; or
“(2) In the actual resistance of an attempt to commit a felony upon the slayer, in his or her presence, or upon or in a dwelling, or other place of abode, in which he or she is.”
