A 67-year-old man was out for a walk at Cobbs Creek Park in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania when he was confronted by two masked men. One potential robber held a pellet gun (a toy), while the other possessed a stick. The robber held a toy gun to the elderly man’s face and forcefully demanded his valuables.
The 67-year-old man refused to give up his belongings, and the two ended up getting into a fistfight. The old man used a .38 caliber handgun to kill the masked robber during the commotion. The robber was either a young teenager or a man in his early twenties. The man with the authentic gun had a concealed weapons license and did not have any criminal record, which made it easier for him to cooperate with the police officers who arrived on the scene after he killed the other man.
The old man was taken to the hospital for a checkup after he fought with and killed the robber. He was experiencing chest pains, worrying first responders since that is commonly indicative of a heart attack. The intense stress of the deadly altercation would cause anyone to have a racing heart and feel anxious, both of which can lead to chest pains.
When the police finally arrived and put a stop to the robbery, the accomplice who had been carrying a stick ran away and has not yet been caught or identified.
The incident is being treated as an act of self-defense, even though the 67-year-old man killed the robber. Even though the intended victim killed a man with a gun, they do not have plans to charge him with a crime.
“At this point, I don’t see any charges being filed,” stated Upper Darby Police Superintendent Mike Chitwood.
The man who defended himself said he was strolling in the park at 2:30 pm when he heard people coming up behind him. The self-defense incident occurred in Philadelphia. As he spun around, the sight of robbers coming to strike horrified him.
“When he turns around, he sees a guy with a mask covering half of his face, and he’s got a gun in his right hand,” Chitwood stated.
Chitwood said that after the crook demanded the old man’s money, the guy “immediately reached out to the gunman’s right hand” and worked to get control over it.
“A struggle ensues – this is a 67-year-old tangling with a much younger man – and as (the robbery victim) starts to lose his balance, he reaches into his waistband and pulls out his gun, a .38-caliber revolver,” Chitwood stated. “As he’s falling backward, he fires one shot.”
The 67-year-old man was acting in self-defense and did not know the gun the other man had was a toy, believe the police. If it were a real firearm, it could have caused fatal harm.
The victim “did a great job defending himself,” says Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.
