On October 6th of this year, 48-year-old Tatiana Duva-Rodriguez was in a Home Depot parking lot when she witnessed a man running from the store –and from security– with stolen merchandise. What she did next is still haunting her, and she was just handed down a sentence for the incident.
The shooting happened in the store’s parking lot at around 2 p.m., when Home Depot security was chasing a shoplifter in his 40s who jumped into a waiting dark SUV, said Lt. Jill McDonnell, an Auburn Hills police spokeswoman.
But when the SUV began to pull away, a 48-year-old woman suddenly began firing shots at the fleeing vehicle. The vehicle escaped – but possibly has a flat tire, McDonnell said.
After pleading no contest shortly after the incident, Duva-Rodriguez was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months probation. Her Michigan concealed carry permit was also revoked until the year 2023.
In the quickness of it all, she maintains that she was just trying to help, telling the judge that she “made a split second decision”, also adding that “Maybe it was not the right one, but I was trying to help.”
When I first covered this story, the title was properly named “Armed Citizen Opens Fire On Home Depot Shoplifter; You’re Doing It Wrong”. Why? Because her actions are not something that a responsible gun owner would do.
But wait, she’s learned something throughout this entire process. At least a positive is taken away from this, right?
Not so fast. In her eyes, here’s the lesson she’s learned:
“I tried to help, and I learned my lesson that I will never help anybody again,” she said after her sentencing.
Instead of having this negative attitude, it would be nice to see Duva-Rodriguez see the error of her ways and accept that she simply shouldn’t have fired at a fleeing shoplifter, of which the decision put other lives at risk.
I’ll make a quick point to say that, had she hit the shoplifter with a bullet from her gun, she would have found herself trying to convince a jury that she feared for her life.
My advice; take the slap on the wrist and move on with life. At this point in time, you’re not fit to carry a firearm. That’s the honest truth.
