The Palms Internet Cafe, located in a strip center on Highways 441/27/301 near downtown Ocala, was the site of an attempted robbery by two 19-year old men last July. But these teens did not count on a 71-year old man with a gun. Samuel Williams, a patron, pulled out his .380 pistol and began shooting. The teens fled the scene but not before being shot and wounded by Mr. Williams. They were later captured and arrested by the police.
Mr. Williams is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and was not charged.
One of the teens, a former employee of the "cafe," hatched the robbery plot with a friend, thinking there would be a lot of cash available and that the cafe would be an easy mark.
Such Internet cafes, which provide food and drink for their patrons, are essentially gambling houses, or as someone else said, they use the Internet as "a portal to online gambling."
The State of Florida has, however, just recently passed a law banning such cafes. While I don't care at all about Internet cafes, this ban makes no sense to me, because one can gamble via the state-sponsored lottery and in casinos on Indian reservations throughout the state. But in Florida, hypocrisy is the name of the game. And you must remember, our governor, Rick Scott, is a hypocrit writ large, being the criminal who committed the largest case of Medicare fraud against the U.S. government in history!
To summarize: Never underestimate a 71-year old man with a concealed weapons permit. And if you want to gamble in Florida, you're now going to have to find somewhere other than an Internet cafe.
You an see a video of the attempted robbery here.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2na0WG1uA
13 comments:
I haven't seen one of these in a while.
After reading this story, all I can picture is Clint Eastwood standing inside the door of the internet cafe with a gun saying, "Go ahead, make my day."
:-)
Pierre
I am glad the elderly man was able to thwart the robbery and that the police were able to catch the guys. The internet cafes I am used to seeing don't look this large. Great post and photo, Lowell.
Holy smokes, that was one scary video! This seems to be a strange use of an internet cafe. I don't think we have any of these here.
What a story! There used to be places like this around here but not so much anymore.
Well let's hear it for the over 70 crowd---or at least one huzzah! I don't know anything about internet cafes. You can go online anywhere anymore and banning things only makes them more prolific. they are out there. Well so are the old timers with guns. Yeehaw!! MB
I had no idea that internet cafes were gambling dens! or could be.
A place best avoided, especially if you're a budding Billy the Kid!
Hats off to the older fellow! Yes, I've heard of Florida's hypocrisy... I think this ban is ridiculous, too.
I'm not sure I'd like to be anywhere near that guy. He may have gotten rid of the robbers, but he seems to have a kind of "point and shoot" mentality (as opposed to "think, aim, and shoot," and the gun's loaded!
Internet cafes all over the world are notorious!
I have never been in an internet cafe. But if I ever do enter one I'll keep my out for the 71-year old who might have a gun.
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