Henry Joel had just picked up some Chinese takeout in North Philadelphia on the night of March 2 when he was accosted by two armed men. Then he did a bit of taking-out of his own.
Now, the concealed carrier is speaking out about those who want to be “gangsters now or whatever,” warning them a life of crime “will put you in the ground” — even if Joel didn’t.
According to WPVI-TV in Philadelphia, the incident occurred around 11:15 p.m. After Joel picked up his food, two armed men emerged from a breezeway and declared they were robbing himl.
The 71-year-old Joel, however, was having none of it — and it turned out the robbers’ mark wasn’t the easy money they thought he was.
Joel proceeded to pull out his revolver and exchange gunfire with the two would-be robbers, who fled the scene.
Police said Joel was struck once in the ankle during the shootout. He was taken to Temple University Hospital in stable condition but is expected to make a full recovery.
“Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small said they know the suspects fired at least two shots because investigators found spent shell casings on the sidewalk and in the breezeway. Small said the victim’s revolver would not expel spent shell casings,” WPVI reported.
“We do know that the 71-year-old victim fired multiple shots,” Small said. “Unknown at this time if he struck any of these two perpetrators, but we’re checking area hospitals at this time.”
Interviewed from the hospital, Joel said he’s a licensed carrier because he’s worked in security and keeps his firearm handy for a situation just like this.
“At night I would keep my hand on my pistol in my pocket in case I have to pull it out,” he told WPVI. “It finally came to reality that I had to use it.”
As for the robbers: “They raised a gun to begin shooting. I raised mine and we just started shooting,” Joel said.
“I don’t know if I hit one of them, but I’m pretty sure I hurt them because they were in the area I was at, basically, and I got shot in the bottom part of the leg which broke my bone.”
As of a Sunday report from Fox News, no arrests had been made in the case.
Even if they don’t get arrested, however, Joel had a message for the would-be robbers.
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“Stop and think before you act. What’s the point? What are you trying to make the point of? You’re gangsters now or whatever? You think you’re going to get recognition, you’re going to become a star or something?” he told WPVI.
“That ain’t gonna put you in no movies, it will put you in the ground.”
Unfortunately, a lot more Philadelphians are going to have to start following Joel’s lead, at least if trends in the city continue.
Axios reported in September that homicides and violent crime were both up first nine months of the year, with the city recording more homicides than it did during the same period in 2021, already a record year. Robberies had more than doubled.
“Philly is bucking a national trend captured in a midyear survey of large law enforcement agencies by the Major Cities Chiefs Associations, which shows that homicides are dropping in most major U.S. cities, but total violent crime is on the rise,” Axios noted.
Homicides have steadily increased in the city since 2016, WXTF-TV reported.
And don’t count on a crackdown on crime to come anytime soon. Philadelphia’s district attorney is Larry Krasner, the OG of George Soros-supported progressive DAs who don’t necessarily view the function of law enforcement as, you know, enforcing laws.
Krasner was initially elected in 2017; correlation is not causality, naturally, but I again invite you to look at when the homicide rate started ticking upward in the City of Brotherly Love.
Whatever deeper problems may exist in Philly, Henry Joel can’t solve them alone.
If quite a few more residents begin taking his lead, however, perhaps this object lesson can effect a change in criminal behavior that not even a Soros DA can ruin.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.