Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990                   TAG: 9007110347
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STORE OWNER GUN CHARGE PUT ON HOLD

Roanoke General District Judge Richard Pattisall took under advisement a charge of reckless handling of a firearm against Ralph Pugh.

Pugh, owner of the Stop & Shop store in the 700 block of Marshall Avenue Southwest, testified that he was only trying to prevent a man from walking out of his store without paying for two 12-packs of beer the afternoon of May 1.

"People feel like they can walk in and walk out with anything they want," said Pugh, who has run the store four years.

Pugh said he fired twice into the air as he tried to get the man, Barry Lynn Arthur, 21, to stop and give up the stolen merchandise. Arthur is charged with petty larceny as a subsequent offense - a felony charge that Pattisall certified to a grand jury during the same hearing.

Under cross-examination by Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell, Pugh admitted that Arthur did not threaten him in any way.

"I was just trying to recover my beer," he testified.

But, Caldwell argued to Pattisall, the store owner went too far when he pulled a .22-caliber pistol from a file cabinet, followed Arthur out of the store and fired two shots before the man dropped the beer and fled.

"I am sympathetic to the concept of protecting your property, but lethal force is not recognized as a way to do that," Caldwell said.

Pattisall agreed that Pugh "went too far," but said he was taking the charge under advisement because, "I don't think a mistake in the heat of passion merits a criminal record."

If there are no other problems, the charge against Pugh will be dismissed in six months. Pugh had been charged initially with attempted voluntary manslaughter, but prosecutors had asked at an earlier hearing that the charge be reduced to reckless handling of a firearm.

Pugh is the second convenience-store clerk to be charged this year with shooting at a fleeing thief or robber. A judge dismissed the earlier charge, and a third clerk was not charged when he shot and killed a man who tried to rob his store.

In all three cases, the defense of the store clerks has been based on repeated robberies and thefts that have created a need for guns to protect the businesses and the safety of employees.