On Tuesday morning, Fox News Channel gave attention to the kind of story that the media should cover more often to inform their viewers about the importance of guns as a tool of self-defense.
Fox & Friends First co-host Carly Shimkus interviewed a Georgia police sergeant to learn about a local restaurant manager who used his own gun to fight off an armed robber.
Shimkus set up the segment: "A Georgia restaurant employee standing his ground during an attempted armed robbery on the job, shooting and killing an intruder even after getting pistol-whipped. The worker fought with the suspect over the gun before pulling out and firing his own legally owned pistol to defend himself."
After introducing Sergeant Justin Clark of the Warner Robins police department, she asked him to recount the incident for viewers. Sergeant Clark noted that the attempted robbery happened on December 5, and that a man named Joshua Hickey entered the restaurant with a stolen gun:
He was wearing a mask and had a stolen pistol with him. When he went in, he demanded money. There was a struggle between the restaurant -- excuse me -- restaurant manager and Mr. Hickey. The restaurant manager ended up having a head injury after the struggle and fell to the ground. As he was coming up off of the ground, he was able to draw his pistol and shoot the suspect two times. Once Mr. Hickey was shot, he fled from the restaurant, but only made it about 75 yards before collapsing in the street.
The police sergeant then recalled that the manager was upset that he ended up having to kill the assailant in the struggle. After losing touch with Officer Clark because of technical difficulties, Shimkus commented on the importance of guns to fend off criminals:
I think one of the things that is notable about this case is a big part of crime prevention is deterrence, and if this intruder knew that this restaurant worker had a gun and was armed, I don't think that he would have tried to rob this particular place. So the end of this story that we know so far is that this restaurant worker is okay -- he had a legally owned firearm after this armed intruder went into this restaurant and tried to rob him personally.
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Transcript follows:
Fox & Friends First
December 13, 2022
4:38 a.m. Eastern
CARLY SHIMKUS: A Georgia restaurant employee standing his ground during an attempted armed robbery on the job, shooting and killing an intruder even after getting pistol-whipped. The worker fought with the suspect over the gun before pulling out and firing his own legally owned pistol to defend himself. Sergeant Justin Clark from the Warner Robins Police Department, where this crime took place, joins me now. Sergeant, good morning to you. I just described a bit of what happened here, but can you explain the situation in your own words?
SERGEANT JUSTIN CLARK, WARNER ROBINS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Good morning, absolutely. So on Monday, the 5th of December, who we found out later to be Joshua Hickey, entered the American Philly Wings on Watson Boulevard in Warner Robins. He was wearing a mask and had a stolen pistol with him. When he went in, he demanded money. There was a struggle between the restaurant -- excuse me -- restaurant manager and Mr. Hickey. The restaurant manager ended up having a head injury after the struggle and fell to the ground. As he was coming up off of the ground, he was able to draw his pistol and shoot the suspect two times. Once Mr. Hickey was shot, he fled from the restaurant, but only made it about 75 yards before collapsing in the street.
SHIMKUS: So this intruder died of his gunshot wounds. The employee is going to be okay, is that right? How's he doing mentally?
CLARK: He took it pretty hard when he found out that Mr. Hickey had been killed. I mean, of course, nobody wants to be in that situation, and, you know, he was doing his best to come out of it okay and for his two employees that were in there as well.
(...)
SHIMKUS: It's a sad situation that this intruder died, but I think one of the things that is notable about this case is a big part of crime prevention is deterrence, and if this intruder knew that this restaurant worker had a gun and was armed, I don't think that he would have tried to rob this particular place. So the end of this story that we know so far is that this restaurant worker is okay -- he had a legally owned firearm after this armed intruder went into this restaurant and tried to rob him personally.
