An armed robbery suspect took a gamble that his intended victim would not be able to defend himself during an incident occurring in a Jackson, MS, motel parking lot June 21. But it wasn't his lucky night.
Jackson authorities report the suspect approached a Motel 6 guest as he walked to his rental car Friday evening and asked the man for cigarettes. When the guest replied he had no smokes, the man began to walk away, then turned and said, "I bet you don't have one of these," pointing a handgun at the guest.
However, Lady Luck was not smiling on the parking lot ne'er-do-well. In fact, he might have been better advised to buy a lottery ticket at a local convenience store to feed his gambling urge on this particular night. Not only was intended victim, an out-of-towner, armed with a handgun of his own, he knew how to use it and fired multiple shots at his assailant, striking him at least once in the chest.
Jackson police did not immediately release the identity of the suspect, who hurriedly left the crime scene and was subsequently picked up by an ambulance at a nearby apartment complex and taken to a hospital for treatment of a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.
The intended victim, who was identified in a WLBT/Mississippi News Now report only as a contractor from the Gulf Coast who was working in Jackson, was not injured in the incident. The type and caliber of handgun used by the contractor or the number of shots fired were not released by local authorities.
Mississippi News Now reported the case is expected to be brought before a Hinds County Grand Jury. In addition to winning the night's bet, the motel guest is also fortunate to be protected from prosecution under Mississippi's Castle Law, one of the country's strongest, which offers protection to citizens to defend themselves inside or in the immediate vicinity of a vehicle, a dwelling or a place of business.
