Looters routed in the "City of Brotherly Love"

Tables turned by shop owner
Written by Robert A. Waters

After George Floyd's death on May 29, 2020, street hustlers, gang members, and mobs across the country began the inevitable plundering and looting.  Thousands of businesses were destroyed and many police agencies, outnumbered and restricted in how they could respond, turned cities over to vandals and killers.  In the first 10 days, at least 23 people died in riot-related violence and 500 cops were injured.

Many of us watched from our homes, appalled at the carnage and the sight of politicians literally bowing to anarchists.  While our once-great country burned, modern-day Neros fiddled in their bunkers.  Minneapolis, Atlanta, New York City, Los Angeles, and dozens more cities were ransacked.

In Philadelphia, things were no different.

Philly.com reported that the city "descended into anything but peacefulness.  Buildings and police cars were set ablaze, stores looted, bottles thrown.  Tear gas.  Rubber bullets.  Riot shields.  You get the picture."  Yes, we got the picture.  On our screens, we viewed hundreds of vicious beatings as mobs attacked innocent people without provocation.

NBCPhiladelphia.com reported that "by Sunday morning, more than 207 people had been arrested and more than a dozen officers injured, one of whom was still hospitalized after being run over by a car."

Firing Line, Inc., a gun store, sits on Front Street in South Philly.  Shop owner Greg Isabella serves law enforcement officers as well as everyday citizens.

Isabella sensed what was coming.  The night before, an attempted break-in of his store had occurred.  According to GlobeIntel.com, "On the previous night, looters attempted to break in through a back door of the shop, ramming and beating at a steel door that showed signs of battering, and even marks that a crowbar was used to pry it open--to no avail."  Isabella decided to sleep in his shop that night, armed with a Bushmaster M-4 rifle.

Even though a city-wide curfew was in effect, it made no difference to the roaming mobs, thieves, robbers, and killers.

At about 4:00 a.m., while viewing an outside surveillance monitor, the store owner saw two cars drive up to his store.  Four figures got out and cut a lock to open the gate.  Detectives later found the discarded bolt cutters and lock nearby.

The men broke the glass entrance door and came inside.

Inspector Scott Small stated that Isabella "heard them walking up the steps, and one of the individuals who broke into the property pointed a handgun at him.  And that's when the store owner fired his own weapon, striking the one perpetrator at least one time in the head."  The name of that individual has not been released by police.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The deceased robber's gun was found next to his body.

The other three ran.

A short time later, seventeen-year-old Khaleef Brown appeared at Jefferson University Hospital with a bullet wound to his shoulder.  After treatment, he was arrested and charged with robbery, burglary, and falsifying information.  Cops said they had overwhelming evidence that he was one of the four who had attempted to loot the gun store.

The other accomplices have not been identified.

Isabella was not charged with any crime.  District Attorney Larry Krasner informed the media that "the facts as we know and the law are clear that the business owner's use of force while inside his own property against a burglar, accompanied by others, who was entering with a gun in his hand were justified.  It is fortunate that this large cache of guns and ammunition were not taken and sold on the street."

While Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney said he supports the rights of citizens to protect their lives and property, he warned against vigilantism, stating that he was "deeply troubled at the ease with which another life has been taken amidst this chaos."

Meanwhile, life and death in Ben Franklin's city goes on.