APD Officer Stops Gun-Wielding Family Dollar Thief - No Injuries

The Atlanta Police Department is calling it, "another great arrest by an Atlanta officer."  Officer Kevin Stroner, stopped a robbery in progress at the Martin Luther King earlier this week.

According to the APD report, Officer Stroner was 2 blocks away when he received the call of a robbery in progress.  He immediately stopped what he was doing and raced over to 3500 Martin Luther King Jr. Dr SW, where witnesses outside told him there was a robbery in progress inside the Family Dollar and that the suspect had a handgun.

Officer Stroner arrived at the front door and came face to face with the suspect inside the business.  The suspect was attempting to exit the front door. 

Upon seeing Officer Stroner, the suspect turned around attempting to retreat deeper inside the business. Officer Stroner drew his service weapon and entered the business.  Believing innocent people were in immediate danger of serious injury, Officer Stroner disregarded his own personal safety, and pursued the suspect inside the business while ordering the suspect to stop.

The suspect attempted to flee but was cornered by Officer Stroner inside the business.  At gun point, the suspect surrendered and Officer Stroner was able to place the suspect into custody.  A loaded black .380 semi automatic handgun was recovered along with a bag containing hundreds of dollars in cash.

Amazingly this whole incident came to a peaceful conclusion, and the officer's diligent actions may have saved the public and customers in the area from being injured by the suspects handgun.

This story also touches on a subject that we discussed on Cascade Patch in the past, in which we asked if in our neighborhoods.  We received comments from readers stating that Family Dollar tends to bring crime into the community their parking lots are "filthy and unsafe."

What are you thoughts?