Team iconcealed.com is always ready to shine a light on CONCEALED CARRY HEROES OF AMERICA who refuse to become victims, in this case, a would-be carjacking victim who would not back down.
Turns out two crooks descended upon a silver Infinity that looked like an easy mark to carjack in New Orleans, not realizing that one of the men in the targeted car — “Benny” — was carrying concealed.
Benny said he had just pulled up to his home with a friend when the gunmen caught them off guard.
“They probably figured this time of morning, we’re gonna just stake somebody out,” he said. “I got out first,” Benny continued, “and suddenly some guy came from nowhere and said, ‘Hey man, I want that car.’ They had ski masks on.”
Did Benny obey the carjacker’s command? Hell no!
Benny said his friend handed over the keys and then took off running for help, hightailing it for the nearby Second District police station.
That’s when Benny knew he had to act. It was now or never.
With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Benny knocked the gun out of the suspect’s hand, pulled his own weapon, and shot the robber in the stomach!
One gunman sped off in the silver Infinity driven by Benny’s friend.
Then a second gunman came at Benny from the bushes!
“He came just like that and he said, ‘Don’t you move,’” Benny said. “When he said that, I just pulled my coat out and I just started boom, boom, boom.”
Benny drew his concealed carry weapon and fired four shots but didn’t hit the suspect, and the two ended up on the ground.
“I hit him like that, hit the gun out of his hand,” Benny said. “We both tripped and fell on the ground like this here. I had my right hand here. I did like this, boom! He stood up, ‘Oh Lord, Jesus,’ and he broke out and ran.”
Benny said the suspect was shot in the stomach and tried to escape.
“So I ran inside and I went and got some more bullets,” Benny said. “I had his gun on the ground because I took the gun from him. I ran inside and got some more bullets and came out.”
When, he came outside he said police were already on the scene. About 30 minutes after the inciden, 17-year-old Andrew Spikes showed up at the hospital with a gunshot wound to the stomach. Spikes was arrested and booked with two counts of armed robbery.
Police said another suspect, Jonah Marco, drove Spikes to the hospital. Police said he had also driven Spikes and the second suspect to Milan Street to commit the carjacking.
Marco was booked with accessory after the fact. Police said the gunman who stole the Infinity is still at large.
Benny perfectly summed up his harrowing but heroic encounter:
“He had the ups on me,” Benny said. “I could have said, ‘OK, man.’ I could have just dropped my gun. It don’t make no sense. A lot of people says, ‘Well, he had the ups on me and I dropped my gun.’ I didn’t want to go like that, so, ya know, I’m like a Viking. I’m hard to go down. I came up hard.”
Team iconcealed.com salutes the bravery of “Benny”, a responsible concealed carry permit holder who decided enough is enough and took matters into his own hands.
