While official police statistics in Philadelphia are pointing to a dramatic decrease in homicides, armed robberies, and burglaries, the City of Brotherly Love is far from crime-free, and there’s still good reason for residents to exercise their Second Amendment rights. 

Philly police say one would-be robber found out the hard way that crime doesn’t pay over the weekend when he and an alleged compatriot targeted a 21-year-old in a stick-up. Authorities say while the 16-year-old suspect threatened the victim with what turned out to be a toy gun, the 21-year-old was lawfully carrying a real handgun, and used it to defend himself. 

Police were called out to a location in the city’s Kensington neighborhood on a report of a man with a gun around 11 p.m. on Sunday night. When the arrived, they found the teen with a gunshot wound to the leg. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment, while officers continued to investigate the circumstances of the shooting. 

Shortly after, officers found the would-be victim of the robbery, a 21-year-old man police did not identify. He told police the teen and another person accosted him, and the teen pulled out what he believed was a real handgun to try to rob him, he said.

The 21-year-old then brandished his legally owned 9mm handgun and fired at the teen, said Vanore.

The 21-year-old man was cooperating with police and had turned over his gun, Vanore said. Officers also recovered the replica firearm they say the teen used to try to rob the man.

According to the armed citizen, he was walking down the street when two teens confronted him. One of them put what the victim thought was a gun to his back and demanded his wallet, keys, and other belongings, but the 21-year-old pulled out his gun instead. 

“After the victim opened fire on the robbers, that gun was dropped and it was recovered by police and it is now in police custody and we now know it to be a fake gun,” said [Police Inspector D.F.] Pace. “But again, having been pressed into the victim’s back, there would have been no way for the victim to have known that.”

Police said the injured teen was taken into police custody.

The second robbery suspect is still being sought by police and, Pace said, an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

In an update Monday morning, police said the second individual sought in this incident has been described as being a man who wore a dark-colored hooded sweatshirt at the time of the attempted robbery.

While the investigation continues, by all accounts police are treating the armed citizen as the victim of a crime, and he’s not facing any charges.

I’m glad that the suspect wasn’t seriously injured or killed for his idiotic attempt to rob someone with a toy gun, and I hope that this will end up being a teachable moment for the teen. Play stupid games and you’re likely to win a stupid prize like a trip to the hospital… or even the morgue. People have a right to protect themselves from harm, and you never know who might be armed for self-defense. Someone might look like an easy mark, but appearances can be deceiving, and the “defenseless victim” turned out to be a good guy with a gun.