| Photo: Jack Dillon/NIJ |
A Texas man tried to rob a gas station of fake marijuana, using a hammer as his weapon, but the attempt was foiled when he got shot in the ass by another customer.
Dustin Darsp, 35, tried to steal synthetic marijuana known as K2 from a Shell convenience store at about 9:30 Sunday night in San Antonio, reports KSAT. Carrying a small hammer draped in a block cloth or sock — which he attempted to pass off as a gun — he grabbed a box of K2 and hurriedly left the store.
“He carried it as if it was a gun and pointed it at the clerk and the customer,” said San Antonio Police Detective Robert Bernal, reports Jessica Kwong of the San Antonio Express-News. “He wanted them to believe that what he had was a gun.”
But a customer followed Darsp outside the store and confronted him, according to police. The exchange apparently didn’t go well, because the customer opened fire and wounded Darsp in the buttocks.
“The robber still wanted the guy to believe he had a gun but ended up dropping it,” he said. “And as he was going to reach fgor it, the (customer) shot him in his left upper buttock.”
The customer is a licensed handgun owner, according to investigators, and will not face charges because he was protected under a Texas law that allows the use of deadly force to prevent a robbery.
“According to Title 2, Chapter 9 of the Penal Code, you can use deadly force to protect property and prevent the other’s imminent commission of robbery,” Det. Bernal said. “So he’s covered under that.
Darsp was taken to University Hospital with a non-threatening bullet wound in his butt. Police haven’t yet said what charges he will face.
