The only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun stealing home improvement supplies is ... a good guy with a gun?
A bystander outside a Home Depot in Auburn Hills, Michigan, opened fire on a man suspected of shoplifting from the store on Tuesday as he attempted to flee the scene in an SUV driven by another man.
Police told The Detroit News that the bystander, a woman with a license to carry a concealed pistol, shot at the getaway car's tires after witnessing a loss prevention officer attempt to stop the suspect and fail.
It's unclear how many shots the woman, who is in her 40s, fired from her 9 mm handgun, though police believe she may have punctured one of the vehicle's tires. Authorities are still on the lookout for the car.
The incident raises questions about the use of deadly weapons and the idea of vigilante justice.
“The best thing anybody that witnesses -- or thinks they’re witnessing -- a crime can do is be a good eyewitness for us. Gather information, write down information, give it to the officers when they arrive, or contact the police department when they see something happen,” Lt. Jill McDonnell of the Auburn Hills Police Department told WXYZ Detroit.
“When people see something happening, we really want them to contact us so that we can take action.”
As Tanisha Moner, a concealed permit instructor in Michigan, told Detroit's Fox 2 News, deadly weapons are only to be used to defend oneself or others from great bodily harm, rape or death.
"You can't shoot at moving cars. You can't shoot at people retreating. You can't do that," she said. "There could have been a 4-year-old child coming out of Home Depot with their grandparent."
Auburn Hills Police are still deciding whether to file charges against the woman, reports the Detroit Free Press.