Police at the scene where a 17-year-old aspiring armed robber was struck down in his prime by a store clerk.
Rockford, IL (Guns Save Life) – The family of the armed robber killed last Friday in Rockford while robbing jewelry store behind his home has spoken out to the media.
Brandon Pierce was shot dead by an employee, rumored to be the proprietor, of the Jewelry Concepts store around 5pm Friday, November 30th after walking into the store with a handgun and announcing a robbery.
The subsequent investigation found the violent offender to have been armed with a pellet gun that looked like a real pistol.
Brandon M. Pierce.
Mr. Pierce, the aspiring armed robber, quickly found out that bringing a pellet gun to a gunfight is not conducive to a positive outcome for a pellet-gun wielding armed robber facing a law-abiding citizen armed with a real gun and the knowledge, skill and attitudes necessary to use it to defend their lives from predatory criminal attack.
Brandon Pierce was staying with his father recently, living in an apartment within sight of the jewelry store he chose to rob. The father, Michael Pierce was sentenced in 2008 to 9 years for Armed Robbery, was paroled this July.
“There’s Jewelry Concept’s back door right there,” says Pierce, his voice laden with anger and grief. “I have to look at it every single day.”
Brandon Pierce was kind-hearted and giving, his father said. The kind of kid everyone loved when they met him. But Pierce also said his son was troubled.
The father, Michael. Photo and text courtesy IDOC (including typos). MARKS, SCARS, & TATTOOS TATTOO, ARM, RIGHT – TOMBSTONE, S-WEB, HARLEY.(SLEEVE TATTOO, ARM, LEFT UPPER – SPIDER WEB, REAPER, DRAGON….. TATTOO, CHEST – WOLF (L LEG: SWASTICA) TATTOO, WRIST, RIGHT – SKULLS, TOMBSTONE TATTOO, ARM, LEFT UPPER – 1-17-04 / 12-26-04
He was a teen high school drop-out with a pregnant girlfriend. He had a history of fighting at Harlem High School where he was a student two years ago. He had served juvenile probation for possession of a stolen ATV.
Brandon had bounced from living in the Rockford area to living with his mother in Indiana and back to Rockford following his father’s July release from prison on an armed robbery charge. Brandon struggled to find work and was desperate for cash when he walked into the jewelry store about 5 p.m. Friday, Pierce said.
Although police have said Brandon was armed with a “handgun,” his father said it was actually a pellet gun. An undisclosed employee opened fire. Brandon was shot twice in the chest, once in the side and once in the arm, according to what a family member said they were told by authorities.
The father lamented the fact that the jewelry store didn’t just let his armed-robbing son steal some jewelry because, as dad said,
“We live in a society with laws, we have a police department to handle things,” Pierce said. “My son’s life to them was worth nothing more than a handful of jewelry when their lives weren’t even being threatened. It disgusts me.”
The bottom line is that the taxpayers of Illinois were saved from subsidizing another scumbag’s incarceration.
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