A Righteous Kill

Dan Case, age fifty, was just released from Leavenworth after thirty-one years for capital murder, is inside a grocery store buying cigarettes.

“$6.75,” says a kid behind the counter.

“Hell, I remember a time when they were thirty cents a pack.”

The kid just took Dan’s ten-dollar bill, gave him his change and cigarettes.

“Next.”

As Dan Case walked away, he heard the man who was behind him say, “Hand over the cash, kid, and nobody gets hurt.”

The kid was shaking.

Dan Case was headed out the door but changed his mind. He turned around to see what was happening.

“Hurry it up, kid, or I swear I’ll put a fucking bullet in your head!”

“You don’t want to do this, mister,” Dan said quietly.

Pointing the gun at Dan, the man said, “You want some of this.”

“No, but I’ve seen guys like you come and go over the years. You won’t like where you end up.”

“Just shut the fuck up!” Looking back at the kid, he ordered, “Open the damn drawer! Let’s move it!”

The register finally opened and the kid started putting the cash on the counter as the man scooped it up and put it in his coat pocket. In the process, the kid stepped on, and triggered a silent alarm.

“I saw that, kid. You are so dead!”

He started to pull the trigger, the kid back away, cringing in fear, and ducked below the counter. The man bent his arm over the side of the counter.

Dan Case whispered to no one, “Fuck it.”

He charged the man, knocking him sideways. The gun went off, and the bullet hit a rack filled with magazines and newspapers.

Both men rolled around on the floor, and part of the stolen money fell from the man’s coat. The gun went off a second time, only this time it found the man.

Dan Case stood up, arms by his side, breathing heavily, and the gun dangling by his right side.

The police came storming in, guns raised. Two of them. They take in the situation quickly. Kid behind the counter. One man down on the floor, bleeding and probably dead. Money all over the floor. One man holding a gun.

Dan Case starts to raise his hands forgetting to drop the gun.

The police think he is going to shoot.

They open fire.

Later, once the investigation is over, it was determined the officers followed procedure and it was listed as a righteous shoot, and by one officer’s testimony, “We told him to drop the weapon, and he failed to do so, and when he raised the gun in his hand, we were forced to fire.”

Both men were allowed to return to active duty two weeks later, and eventually were given a citation and medal for bravery.

Although it had been proven that Dan Case wasn’t the original suspect in question, until after the fact, officer’s acted accordingly.

Besides, he was just another “low-life convict,” as one of the two officers later said. “No big deal.”

Dan Case did the right thing.

This time he didn’t get real justice.

But he did the right thing, and in the end; that’s all that mattered.