I don't think the media would report it this way in California!

[url]http://www.nwcn.com/topstories/NW_092102WABjewelryrobbery.45f4df3b.html[/url]

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Gaspain

It needs a password.  Copy and past it so we can read it too.

OK, I'll do it this way.  I forgot that I have a cookie that bypasses the Northwest Cable News sign on screen.  Too bad.  The story includes an intimidating photo of a buckshot blasted window.

[b]Jewelry store owner fights armed robber[/b]

09/21/2002

By GLENN FARLEY / KING 5 News

KENT, Wash. - It was a case of courage on the part of a jewelry store owner in Kent, Wash.

A jewelry store owner fought back against a robber Saturday morning, engaging in a shootout with the armed suspect after the man tried rob his store.

The incident happened on Central Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Kent, around 10 a.m. Saturday.

During 30 years in the jewelry business, Chuck Hohner has never had an armed robbery. Until Saturday.

[*]
KING
The jewelry store owner and the armed robber exchanged gunfire.

Despite the fact that Hohner's jewelry store is a virtual fortress of cameras, bars, bullet resistant glass requiring him to push a button to let you in, somebody tried to steal at gunpoint.

After being threatened with what he says was a .38 caliber revolver, Hohner first cooperated. His wrists were bound with plastic ties.

"I laid there and struggled a little bit. I pulled really hard and that plastic tie gave way," said Hohner. "I kept my hands behind my back and was waiting for the chance for him to get his mind going on cleaning out the showcase. Then I popped up and had my .12 gauge shotgun just a couple of steps away."

And that's when the shooting started.

"I had more power than he did," said Hohner.

Hohner said the robber fired first. One shot from the robber struck where Hohner had just gotten up, two more hit the back wall.

Hohner said the robber was trying to kill him and figures he would have been killed anyway if he hadn't gotten free and reached his shot gun.

"It puts out a pretty good scatter," said Hohner. "Hopefully I got him. I don't know. Only he knows."

The robber was driven out of the store without any merchandise and ran down the street where he is still at large.

Kent Police and the jewelry store owner described the suspect as a black male, around 30 years old, around 6 feet tall, 220-240 pounds, and wearing a yellow jacket.