The Great Filling Station Hold-up

Cory Miller

Florida clerk fires back, killing robber
by Robert A. Waters

The Hollywood Police Department has ruled that a clerk who killed an armed robber acted in self-defense.  No charges will be leveled against Leonard Carr, employee of an Exxon gas station that sits near the Seminole Hard Rock Café.

On January 16, Hasib Kuric saw two suspicious men behind the store.  He rushed into the gas station and yelled, “They’re masking up.”  (The store owner allows Kuric, a homeless man from Bosnia, to sleep in the bed of a U-Haul truck on the property for doing odd jobs around the store.)

As Kuric ran into the gas station to warn the clerk, two robbers allegedly barged in behind him.  The men, wearing gloves and masks, held guns, and began firing at the handyman.  “You’ll never do this again,” one yelled, referring to Kuric warning the clerk.  Ducking behind food shelves, the handyman escaped the gunfire.

The robbers turned on Carr.  The store clerk pulled his own weapon, and a shootout began.  In the gun-battle, Carr shot twenty-three-year-old Cory Miller.  The robber dropped to the floor and died near the entrance of the store.

Hollywood Police Sergeant Pablo Vanegas said, “The clerk was armed, at which point multiple shots were exchanged between [Carr] and the suspect. [Carr] had no choice.  Unfortunately, someone was killed, but no innocent people were hurt.”

Joshua Stuart, 19, whom police identified as the second robber, ran from the store and got into a car.  Police captured him two blocks away.

Cory Miller’s first arrest came when he was only eleven-years-old.  At the time, cops charged him with larceny and obstruction without violence.  Since then, he had many arrests.  He was convicted of grand theft in 2009.

Police believe Miller and Stuart may have robbed a 7-Eleven store on Christmas Eve.  In that robbery, the clerk, Thomas Newsome, suffered a broken hip and split tongue while being beaten.

Stuart now faces charges of second-degree attempted felony murder, second-degree murder, and armed occupied burglary.  (In Florida, if anyone gets killed during a crime, all participants can be charged with murder.)

Several days after the botched robbery, Carr spoke with a reporter.  “I'm no gun-toting person,” he said. “I believe in my safety and I bring my gun from home to work.”  He said he is thinking of changing jobs.

The dangerous streets of south Florida crawl with gangs, thugs, addicts, and other lowlife.  Many of the good people have chosen to arm themselves.  The Second Amendment to the Constitution still lives and breathes in the Sunshine State.