Oakland store owner arrested after firing shots to thwart robbery: report

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An Oakland, Calif., store owner was arrested this week after trying to stop a robbery that was happening outside his shop, according to a report.

The 36-year-old small business owner, who was not identified, had fired four gunshots after seeing a woman being robbed of her camera, FOX 2 of the Bay Area reported.

Monday’s incident occurred in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, which has seen a wave of unprovoked attacks and robberies in recent weeks.

No one was wounded in the 5:45 p.m. Monday incident but the store owner was arrested for felony assault with a firearm, the report said. He was later freed on $60,000 bail pending further legal action, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office.

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The business owner was wrong to try to intervene in the situation, the city’s police chief said at a news conference on Tuesday.

"We don’t want people to fire weapons into our community," Chief LeRonne Armstrong said, according to FOX 2. "There could be unintended victims."

Using a firearm to defend yourself or another person is legal in California, though many cases "end up in front of a jury," defense attorney Elliot Silver told KGO-TV of the Bay Area.

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He said cases are usually decided on whether someone was in imminent danger, whether force was necessary and whether the use of force matched the situation.

"The question is, what would a reasonable person do if they were put in that situation?" Silver told KGO.