Armed civilian stops an assault on a Starbucks barista in Utah.

The Starbucks where the incident occurred. KSL.

An armed civilian stopped an assault on a Starbucks barista in Millcreek Utah. KSL. The attacker walked into the Starbucks and confronted the barista asking if she knew who she was. When she said she didn't, the man, Benjamin Overall, began to hit her. The assault escalated into a more dangerous phase as Overall began hitting her with a metal supply basket. However, a regular customer walked in and confronted the man. Overall was then shot by the man, who had a concealed carry permit and then fled the Starbucks. Police confronted him outside, tazed him and then realized he had been shot. Both the barista and Overall were treated for their wounds and released. It is not expected that the customer that shot Overall will be charged and he is cooperating with police. Starbucks made waves among the gun rights community for requesting citizens to leave their guns at home. 

My Comment:

It looks like this customer saved a young barista's life. At the very least he stopped a particularly brutal assault that could have left her crippled or worse. It seems like a good example of a CCW holder stopping a brutal crime. She was still pretty beat up and traumatized but at least she's still breathing and not in the hospital for a long time. 

I was somewhat concerned in the article that the man who shot the suspect hadn't been cleared yet. It certainly sounds like the man won't be charged with anything, but the officer quoted in the article said it hadn't been decided yet. I'm not familiar with Utah's self defense laws but I can't imagine that this case wouldn't be justifiable. I know if I found someone beating the crap out of a random woman with a metal basket for no reason I would think that he's capable of murder. If that man then turned on me I'd think that I'd have a reasonable fear for my life. 

If the man does get charged though, it will be a major injustice. I don't think that even if the law was against him, and I don't think it is, he did anything morally wrong. Indeed, saving someone from a brutal attack like this is a good thing no matter the legal outcome. If I find out that he has been charged I will post an update and hopefully find a gofundme or something to help him out. 

As for the attacker, it sounds like Benjamin Overall is just crazy. He picked a fight with a random woman for basically no reason. That is not the action of a sane individual. He also was able to shake off getting shot in the chest to the point that cops didn't realize that he had been shot. Either the wound was a graze or he was either high or mentally ill enough to work through the pain. He's the reason why people should own firearms as there are some real crazy people out there.

Of course, this incident is a political story as well. Starbucks is infamous for requesting that people leave their firearms at home. I do know that request was made but I don't think there is an official ban on people bringing in firearms. I believe the reasoning was that nobody wanted baristas to kick out armed people for obvious reasons. There are so many Starbucks in this country (and I have never been to any of them) so I am not sure if this place was a "gun free zone" or not. But it's clear that customers are not complying with Starbucks request to leave their guns at home. And in this case it probably saved someone's life.

I personally think that Starbucks lost a lot of goodwill in the gun rights community for the stunt they pulled back in 2013. It was generally a middle finger to gun owners and I am surprised that someone with a CCW would even got to one in the first place. That being said after this incident perhaps Starbucks will change their tune after one of their employees was saved by a good guy with a gun.