Oakland pizza shop owner fatally shoots armed robber

By: Associated Press - | Saturday, April 21, 2007 8:51 PM PDT ∞

OAKLAND, Calif. -- 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.

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.

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.

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1 comment(s)[-]Go to Top

Jasper wrote on May 3, 2007 9:32 AM:Just goes to show how far we have declined as a culture...Some violence prone punk tries to rob a family at gunpoint and there are those that pay tribute to the criminal. What a waste of oxygen they are.

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