There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin.

Oakland Pizza Shop Owner Fatally Shoots Alleged Robber

Posted April 21, 2007 at 3:00 p.m.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The owner of a popular pizza shop opened fire on three robbery suspects, killing one of them and apparently wounding his own son.

Catarino Piedra, 41, who owns Coliseum Pizza and Taqueria in East Oakland, won't be charged with a crime because prosecutors determined he was acting in self-defense, Alameda County Assistant District Tom Rogers said Friday.

Piedra said he feared for his life, and those of his wife and three children, when he began shooting at three men who tried to rob the store after 9:30 p.m. Thursday.

"I was scared," Piedra said. "I had to defend my family."

He told police he kept a gun under the counter because his delivery drivers were frequently robbed.

The shots killed Allen Joseph Hicks III, 22, an aspiring rap artist known as "Boonie." Hicks was armed with a pistol when he and two other men tried to rob the store, police said. This is so stereotypical, what was he trying to get some street cred????

Hicks was on probation for a marijuana conviction, and was facing battery charges when he died, police and court records show.

Police believe Piedra may also have accidentally shot his 17-year-old son, who was not seriously wounded. You are more likely to kill someone you know with a gun if you use it for self defense.

Oakland police said Piedra appeared justified, but cautioned citizens against arming themselves.

Friends left messages, balloons, candles and bottles of cognac at a makeshift memorial honoring Hicks on Friday.It is good to know that criminals are still loved...

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)