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Elderly ex-marines are kicking ass this week!

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:39 am
by GramercyRiff99
Two news stories here, one from Florida and one from Michigan.

Here's the first one...
PLANTATION, Fla. -- A retired United States Marine disrupted a robbery in progress when he shot two men who attempted to rob a Subway sandwich shop, fatally wounding one of them, police said.

According to Plantation police, two armed men barged into the Subway at 1949 Pine Island Road shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday, demanding money from the employee behind the counter. When they tried to force John Lovell into the bathroom, he pulled out a gun and shot both men, police said.

Donicio Arrindell, 22, was shot in the head and later died at the hospital. Fredrick Gadson, 21, was shot in the chest and ran from the Subway, but police found him in hiding in some bushes on the property of a nearby BankAtlantic.

Lovell, 71, was the lone customer at the time. Police said he had a concealed weapons permit.

A witness who was about to enter the Subway at the time said he thought the shootings were justified.

"I think justice, you know, was served and a civilian was a hero for today," Sebastian Shakespeare said.

Police said Lovell, a retired Marine, wouldn't be charged.
Wow, you may think, that guy is a badass! Seventy-one and he still had the presence of mind to take them out! Well then read this story...
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person's wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.

"I guess he thought I was an easy mark," Barnes, 72, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Tuesday.

He's anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.

Jesse Daniel Rae, 27, was arraigned Monday in Rockford District Court on one count of unarmed robbery.

Barnes said he had just withdrawn the money from a bank machine and put it in the pocket of his shorts before driving to a service station in Comstock Park, a Grand Rapids suburb.

He remembers noticing a patron acting suspiciously, asking the price of different brands of cigarettes and other items. While turned away, Barnes felt the hand in his pocket, so he took action.

"I guess I acted on instinct," he said.

Kent County sheriff's deputies said the store manager quickly came around the counter. The three struggled through the front door, where two witnesses said the manager slammed Rae to the ground and held him there.

"There was blood everywhere," said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.

Barnes was a regional runner-up in Golden Gloves competition in the novice and open divisions before enlisting in the Marines in 1956.

After retiring as an iron worker, he now works part-time as a starter at a golf course.

Barnes said he'd probably do the same thing again under the same circumstances, if for no other reason than what he would face back home.

"I wouldn't want my wife to give me hell for lettin' that guy get my money," he said with a smile.
So basically, this pickpocket got beaten by a senior citizen.

I figured that these were awesome enough to share. These two guys deserve some kind of medal, taking into consideration that they're at an age where a lot of people can't even walk to the store anymore, much less shoot some armed robbers/beat the stuffing out of a pickpocket. Here's to you, awesome ex-marines!