Vallejo store owner fatally shoots alleged robber

VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) -- In Vallejo a man picked the wrong store to rob. When he came barging into a jewelry store, the owner fought back with deadly force. It happened on Broadway not far from Vallejo High School.

The shop owner and his wife were brought to the Vallejo Police Department and questioned, then they were taken back to the shop so they could lock up for the night. It is still waiting to be determined by the district attorney, but police say they don't think the shop owner did anything wrong.

Looking at Carrillo's Jewelry Store on Broadway, you would never know it was the scene of a crime. Vallejo police say just before 1 p.m. Thursday, a 37-year-old man from Hercules tried to rob the jewelry store. He vaulted the jewelry counter and pulled a gun on the owner who was inside with his wife. But the owner grabbed his own gun and shot the Hercules man dead.

A woman inside the store called police to report a burglary in progress, saying there was a robber inside and that he had been shot. When police arrived, they found the female caller and her husband, several store employees, and the alleged robber with a gunshot wound to the head.

"The man is so humble, he's so sweet, he didn't deserve to go through what he went through today," said Phyllis Brisco.

Brisco is a customer who says this isn't the first time someone has tried to rob the shop.

"One time somebody had a truck and tried to pull the door off with the truck. Hitch the chain up against the door and try to pull the door off, but it didn't work," said Brisco.

Locksmith Edward Turner recalls another incident.

"Somebody tried to rob him, he got off two shots. One of the shots he thinks may have hit the guy in the shoulder last year, but nobody reported anything at a hospital and nobody showed up with gunshot wounds, so nothing ever came up out of it," said Turner.

Turner says the owner got the gun when he was having some problems in the area. Carrillo also fortified the store.

"He decided to get the gate that buzzes you in because he was fearing for his children and his wife 31," said Brisco.

Police won't tell us if the owner did in fact buzz in the suspect thinking he was a paying customer. The store has been locked up for the night and police told ABC7 there was surveillance, but the camera wasn't pointing in the right position to catch anything because it happened behind the counter, toward the back office.

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