The Waffle House Robbery You Didn’t Hear About, Because It Was Stopped by Good Customer With a Gun

The Waffle House Robbery You Didn’t Hear About, Because It Was Stopped by Good Customer With a Gun April 27, 2018

It’s been a rough few months, with stories of shootings and violence seemingly happening all over the world.  Recently, there was a Waffle House shooting in Antioch, Tennessee — which had also suffered a church shooting in the past — where a man walked into the diner and started shooting.  Four people were killed, and a hero named James Shaw, Jr. (though he didn’t call himself a hero) ended up wresting the AR-15 style weapon from the shooter’s arms.  The shooter fled.

This captured the nation’s imagination — and with good reason.  The dubbed the hero a “good guy without a gun.”  And, in fact, Waffle House’s gun policy is posted prominently on their walls —  all of their diners are supposed to be “gun free zones.”

Thankfully, a man in Louisiana didn’t get that memo.  “On Friday two armed men tried to rob a Louisiana Waffle House but were shot by an armed patron. One of the robbers was hospitalized. Nobody else was hurt,” tweeted Stephen Gutowski.

Here’s what happened:

Ernest Thomas was arrested on one count of armed robbery and one count of attempted armed robbery, but remains in the hospital as he recovers from gunshot wounds, NOPD said. Around 10:19 p.m. Thursday, Thomas and another man with semiautomatic handguns entered the Waffle House in the 2900 block of Elysian Fields Avenue, police said. The other man jumped the counter and demanded money from the cashier, while also taking $8 from a costumer, according to an NOPD release Friday afternoon. Thomas stood on the side by the counter and served as lookout for the other man. A customer armed with his personal firearm drew his weapon as the other robber approached him, causing the robber to flee. Thomas then pointed his own weapon at the armed customer, the police release said. The customer fired several shots at Thomas, who then ran out of the Waffle House and fled in a white Chrysler with the other robber. The customer later told police that he believed he had struck Thomas. Later in the night, a white Chrysler pulled up at a local emergency room and dropped off a man with several gunshot wounds to the back, hip and arm. The man matched witness descriptions of the injured robber, according to the release.

In other words, another hero was able to use a gun to save lives.  And the media will never let you hear about it, because it violates their narrative that guns are always bad.

Image Credit: Nicholas Eckhart on Flickr


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