By Robert A. Waters
More firepower
Hardcore. That’s how cops described a gang of violent thieves who terrorized Milwaukee business owners for years. Bouchard’s, just one of the companies targeted, was a high-end apparel shop. Despite spending thousands of dollars to crime-proof the business, thieves continued to strike. The store once lost $10,000 in merchandise in a midnight raid. In 2012, a Bouchard’s employee suffered gunshot wounds during a daylight robbery. Even though police knew who the thieves were, they never had enough evidence to charge them.
That all changed on July 3, 2015.
Owned by Palestinian immigrant Rami Murrar, Bouchard’s had installed surveillance cameras showing every square inch of the building, inside and out. The store’s front door was constructed of numerous heavy-duty steel bars and “unbreakable” glass windows. Concrete pylons, reinforced by iron girders, guarded the front entrance. As if that wasn’t enough, employees had taken to spending nights at the store in case of a break-in.
Murrar kept a Smith &Wesson M&P semiautomatic pistol beside his computer. But when he saw the group outside, he knew he needed more firepower. He quickly retreated to his office and retrieved an AR-15 style weapon, a YHM (Yankee Hill Machine Company) rifle loaded with 5.56-caliber rounds. While in the back room, Murrar activated a panic button to alert police of the situation.
When he returned to the counter, things had gone from bad to worse. On the sidewalk just outside the store, a dark minivan inched toward the entrance. In the darkness, its back lights flashed crimson and suddenly, the van charged directly toward the door. A loud bang shook the building as the back end of the vehicle smashed into the pylons, knocking them to the ground. Plowing over the downed concrete barriers, the van hit the door, but not hard enough to break the glass. It moved forward, then backed up again at a high rate of speed.
This time the vehicle crushed the glass--shards spilled into the store and on the sidewalk outside. However, the door’s steel frame, although battered, held. As the van pulled away, three intruders attempted to force the steel door open. Murrar noticed again that each of the robbers carried handguns.
The store owner later recounted his feelings to a reporter. “I believed they were going to kill me,” he said. “I was scared for my life.”
Swarming the door, the group attempted to ram through the iron railings.
Murrar shouted, “Get out! What are you doing?” He later told detectives he yelled so loud he thought he was going to lose his voice. The robbers paid no mind.
Three intruders backed off and rushed the door again, slamming it with their shoulders. As one robber kicked the bottom of the door aside and ducked down to come inside, Murrar fired one round. He thought that would be enough to warn them off.
It didn’t.
They continued trying to force their way into the store. Yelling hadn’t worked, a warning shot hadn’t worked, so Murrar leveled the gun and fired 4 quick rounds at the thieves. One bullet hit a padlock, showering sparks into the air. Three other bullets found their mark.
As the assailants fled, Deshuin Byrd-McWay fell to the pavement. He staggered up, then fell again. The other thieves hopped into a waiting getaway car and raced away.
Murrar wisely called his attorney, John S. Schiro, to sit with him during his interview with police. (In fact, a detective had initially “detained” Murrar for “recklessly endangering safety.”) But she soon realized that this was a classic case of self-defense and interviewed him as a witness.
Ghost bullet
Almost as soon as cops arrived at Bouchard’s, they received information that a man had just been admitted to Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. While several detectives hurried to the hospital, others examined the crime scene. Investigators determined that Murrar had fired five rounds. Surveillance video had captured the entire episode as it unfolded. (Murrar later released the video to reporters.)
In addition to the shots fired by Murrar, a lone “ghost
bullet” had been located at the crime scene. It was an unfired .22-caliber cartridge
found inside the store. Some investigators believed it may have been dropped by
one of the robbers.
The store owner told detectives that as soon as the thieves turned to run, he stopped firing. Again, video confirmed his account.
On the street in front of Bouchard’s, cops discovered an abandoned Chrysler Town and Country minivan. It was still running. Cops learned that it had been stolen shortly before the attempted robbery. Unfortunately, little evidence was found to identify the criminals who took it.
Six years in prison and seven years’ probation
At the hospital, Byrd-McWay lay in serious condition. He’d been shot in the right shoulder, left elbow, right hip and left hip. He was soon transferred to Froedtirt Hospital where he underwent surgery. After spending several days in ICU, the robber recovered enough to be moved to the county jail.
Two suspected members of the crime ring had taken Byrd-McWay to the hospital. However, none of the men would speak to police. There was little incriminating evidence at the crime scene, so no one except Byrd-McWay was charged. While he was in jail awaiting trial, however, recordings emerged of his conversations with a girlfriend. Byrd-McWay admitted to being one of the robbers and told his friend he initially thought he would die from his wounds. In language splattered with expletives and vile racist terminology, he showed he had no remorse whatsoever for what he’d done.
Byrd-McWay pleaded guilty to one count each of burglary and criminal damage to property. Court documents state that “on count one, the circuit court imposed an eleven year sentence, with six years of initial confinement followed by five years of extended supervision. On count two, the court imposed a concurrent two-year sentence, with one year each of initial confinement and extended supervision. Byrd-McWay was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $14,337.16.”
He has served most of his sentence and will be released soon.
Rami Murrar was cleared of any wrongdoing
Murrar made several statements to the Milwaukee media. He told reporters that “there was a lot of guys out there, so I believe if they would have gotten through that door, I would’ve been dead, so that’s the reason I reached for my gun. I came here to make my living, not to have a shootout or shoot at somebody.”
His lawyer summed it up. Schiro said, “This was pretty clearly an exercise in self-defense and implementing the new Castle Doctrine which says, ‘You don’t have to let people break into your business.’”
Rami Murrar was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case.
In a final footnote to the case, Bouchard’s published the following Instagram post:
“JUST TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, WE GO TO WORK TO MAKE OUR LIVING AND FEED OUR FAMILIES NOT TO HAVE SHOOTOUTS…DON’T COME TO OUR ESTABLISHMENT WITH GUNS OR TRY BREAKING IN OUR STORES AND EXPECT LESS THAT US DEFENDING OURSELVES AND IF THIS IS WHAT IT’S GONNA TAKE THEN LET IT BE, WE WILL PROTECT OUR BUSINESS AND EMPLOYEES AT ANY COST.
The video also shows the perfect example of dumb criminals. These are the steps:
Steal a van
Crash the stolen van into a store and make all of that loud noise when it’s quiet at night.
Don’t expect anyone to be monitoring or securing they’re (sic) small business.
GET SHOT
GET ARRESTED.
Leave with nothingWE LOVE MILWUAKEE, WE HAVE BEEN IN THE MARKET SINCE 1988 AND WE WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND.”
The author used police reports, court documents, and media accounts to write this story. I have researched self-defense stories for nearly three decades. Please check out my latest book, Guns and Self-Defense, written with my son, Sim Waters. You'll find many more accounts of gun owners defending themselves from ruthless robbers, rapists, home invaders, and violent predators of all stripes.
