Fu@#ing Hell

[Content Note: Guns.]

Welcome to the Wild West 2.0:

A concealed-carry license holder is now cooperating with police after she opened fire on a shoplifter who was fleeing a Home Depot on Tuesday afternoon, Auburn Hills Police said.

The shooting happened in the store's parking lot at around 2 p.m., when Home Depot security was chasing a shoplifter in his 40s who jumped into a waiting dark SUV, said Lt. Jill McDonnell, an Auburn Hills police spokeswoman.

But when the SUV began to pull away, a 48-year-old woman suddenly began firing shots at the fleeing vehicle. The vehicle escaped – but possibly has a flat tire, McDonnell said.

The woman who fired the shots has a license to carry a firearm and is cooperating with police.

It’s not clear whether the woman would face charges in the incident.

The Home Depot, located on Joslyn, is part of a retail district with hundreds of stores in the area.

So, in a busy parking lot surrounded by a ton of retail shops, in the middle of the afternoon, a woman just opened fire on someone because he shoplifted, which, last I checked, wasn't a crime punishable by death.

This is fucking ridiculous. And the story also notes: "The shooting comes just weeks after a bank customer in Warren opened fire on an armed robber, causing him to collapse from injuries. It's not yet clear whether that man will face charges, either."

I can't imagine that the police actually want this kind of "help." The kind of help that escalates a basic theft case into an active shooter incident, which puts lives at risk and creates more work for police.

And I sure as fuck don't want to be living in a society in which this is considered acceptable. I don't want average people carrying guns around and using them for vigilante justice in the middle of open areas, determining whether it's appropriate to stop what appears to be (and MAY NOT BE) a crime, any crime, with deadly force.

Fuck this. Fuck all of it.