ARVADA, Colo. (KDVR) — A Colorado man says he doesn’t regret his actions after confronting a would-be carjacker outside a local supremarket.
About 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, Paul Heagerty says he feared the worst when a man walked up to him while he was putting away his groceries and threatened him with a gun.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to get shot,'” Heagerty said.
The man demanded the keys to Heagerty’s car. He says seconds later, there was a gun pointed at his stomach.
“It was surreal. When he pulled that gun, I went into tunnel vision. I looked at him and said, ‘It ain’t happening,'” Heagerty said.
Heagerty didn’t hand over the keys. Instead, he tossed them several feet away. The suspected car thief took off after them. The distraction gave Heagerty enough time to draw his own concealed weapon.
“I took a giant sidestep, drew my firearm, pointed it right at him and said, ‘Not happening. Not today.’ The look on his face was sheer shock when he looked up and he was looking down the barrel of my pistol,” Heagerty said.
It worked. The man took off running.
“I was yelling at the top of my lungs that ‘This guy tried to rob me with a firearm. Call the police! Call the police!'” Haegerty said.
Police arrested 38-year-old Jonathan David Cho a short time later. He had reportedly just crashed a stolen truck outside of the McDonald’s next door and was looking for an escape vehicle, according to police.
“He picked the wrong guy,” Heagerty said.
Heagerty has a concealed carry permit. He says he wouldn’t recommend what he did to everyone, but he says he wasn’t about to let a man take his car without a fight.
“It all comes down to training. At the end of the day, I don’t regret anything I did, and he’s now in jail,” Heagerty said.
Cho was jailed on suspicion of several charges, including aggravated robbery with a weapon, careless driving, second-degree trespassing, felony menacing with a weapon, leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated motor vehicle theft.