Wisconsin Self-Defense Shooting - 'I Just Wish' He Treated Life A Whole Lot Better Than He Did. :: 08/20/2014

Joshua Drake's death isn't that extraordinary.  The 22-year-old armed robber was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the employee of an optics store that he attempted to rob in Fox Point, Wisconsin, last week.

Fox Point police released new information on Friday afternoon, August 15th related to the fatal shooting that took place at an optical store in Fox Point on Thursday.

According to investigators, just after noon on Thursday, an attempted armed robbery occurred at Innovative Optique on W. Brown Deer Rd.  Officers responded to a report of shots fired. When they arrived, officers determined that an attempted robbery had occurred. They found one person dead in the store.

Officials say during the course of the robbery, shots were exchanged between the armed robber and an armed employee of the store. The store employee was not hurt and the robber was fatally wounded.

One thing that is unusual about Drake's death—which was a justified self-defense shooting—is that Drake's father and the family friend interviewed by the media are refusing to place the blame for Drake's death anywhere other than on Joshua Drake himself.

Drake's father, who did not want his face on camera, told FOX6 News Joshua left their home nine months ago because the family didn't like the direction he was heading.

"We couldn't take it no more. His mom's sick, couldn't take it no more," said Drake's father. "I just wish he treated life a whole lot better than he did."

"A lot of men he hung out with looked up to him, like a big brother, with them looking up to him," said Keonia Lidell, Drake's friend. "I hope they know this is a wake up call and they need to get it together."

It's sad that Joshua Drake's family couldn't convince their son to be a law-abiding citizen. I empathize with the pain they must be feeling over the loss of their son, and the anguish they feel over his decision to endanger the lives of others with a life of crime.

Unfortunately, there is a sad novelty in their condemnation of the actions of Joshua Drake.

Criminality is so deeply, culturally ingrained in some portions of our society that in even an armed robbery like this, or a home invasion where a criminal was shot, or an incident where a suspect is shot when he points a gun at an officer of the law, the families often attempt to blame everyone except the responsible party. In their minds there is always another excuse, another side to the story.

How many times have we heard it?

"You don't know the whole story. He didn't deserve to die."

The reality is that sometimes, human beings threaten the lives of other human beings with lethal force. When these individuals do threaten to use lethal force against their fellow citizens in the commission of a violent crime, they open themselves up to a legal and morally justified lethal force response. Often times, they are either injured or killed by law enforcement officers or citizens who are better trained or who are sometimes simply more lucky.

Sometimes, people do deserve to be shot.

Joshua Drake was one of those people.

Hopefully people will follow the advice of his friend Keonia Lidell, and will learn to "get it together" and avoid a life of crime, so that they can avoid a similar fate.

Concealed carry permit applications are growing in every state. Crime is becoming an ever more dangerous profession.

Choose your future wisely.

http://bearingarms.com/just-wish-treated-life-whole-lot-better/